Banded hours contracts in Ireland : calculate what you are owed

• EMPA 2018 inserted OTWA section 18A (banded hours), in force from 4 March 2019.
• Applies where your contract or statement of terms does not reflect hours over a 12-month reference period.
• Request placement in writing. Employer must place you within 4 weeks (or refuse on statutory grounds).
• Band is based on average weekly hours in the reference period. Eight bands: A to H.
• After placement, averages should fall within that band for at least 12 months (section 18A(7)).
• Collectively bargained banded arrangements are exempt (section 18A(6)).
• Unreasonable refusal or failure to place: WRC complaint. Remedy is placement; no compensation under section 18A(10).

Section 18A(1): where an employee’s contract or statement of terms does not reflect hours worked per week over a reference period, the employee is entitled to be placed in a band in the Table to the section.

Section 18A(2): you must inform the employer and request, in writing, to be so placed.

Section 18A(3): placement must take effect from a date not greater than 4 weeks from the written request.

Section 18A(4): the band is determined from your average weekly hours during the reference period.

Section 18A(14): the reference period is 12 months after commencement with that employer and immediately before the request. Continuous employment immediately before section 18A commenced is reckonable, so long-serving staff did not restart the clock on 4 March 2019.

Plain English: if paper hours and real hours diverge over a year, ask for the statutory band that matches the average. Your written request starts the clock; the employer calculates the average and picks the band.

Official text: EMPA 2018 section 16 (inserting OTWA section 18A); revised Acts text of section 18A.

The Table to section 18A sets out the bands. The WRC EMPA notice uses inclusive wording (“3 hours or more” / “less than 6 hours”). The statute table is:

How to read a band. Placement turns on the average weekly hours in the reference period. Citizens Information: a banded contract gives you the right to work an average of the hours in your band for 12 months. Section 18A(7) requires that, after placement, the average of hours worked shall fall within that band for not less than 12 months.

Illustrative example. Contracted 12 hours, average about 27 over 12 months: Band F (26 to 31), unless a statutory refusal ground applies.

Section 18A(13). Nothing requires an employer to offer hours in a week when you were not expected to work, or when the employer’s regular trade is not being carried out (for example a closed seasonal site).

You need a 12-month stretch with that employer immediately before the request. WRC EMPA notice: from 4 March 2019, an employee who believes their contract does not reflect hours consistently worked over the previous 12 months may request a better-matching band. New starters must build that year first.

You do not need a solicitor. You do need the request in writing, dated, with a copy kept. Email to HR or your manager is ordinarily enough if you can prove sending and receipt. Keep payslips, rotas, clock records, and any Day 5 statement of expected hours.

Collective agreements. Section 18A(6) does not apply where banded arrangements were agreed through collective bargaining (common in parts of retail). If your workplace already has a collectively agreed banded system, check that agreement and your union before assuming section 18A applies the same way.

1. Check your papers. Contract, statement of terms, and any Day 5 core-terms statement (Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, as amended by EMPA). Note stated hours per normal day and week.
2. Map the last 12 months. List weeks and hours. Add rotas, timesheets, access logs, and payslips. Your own notes help if employer records are thin.
3. Estimate the average. Derive a weekly average and match to bands A to H. Contested averages (for example how annual leave weeks affect the divisor) may need advice. You may propose a band; the employer still decides under section 18A(4).
4. Write the request. Cite OTWA section 18A, state that your contract/statement does not reflect hours over the 12-month reference period, give your approximate average and proposed band, and ask for written confirmation within 4 weeks.
5. Send and diary the deadline. Keep proof of delivery. Mark four weeks from the request date.

A calm, factual letter is enough. You need not allege bad faith to start the clock.

The employer has four weeks from your written request to place you (section 18A(3)). The WRC EMPA notice matches that timeline.

Section 18A(5) allows refusal only where:

• (a) there is no evidence to support the claim about hours in the reference period;
• (b) there have been significant adverse changes to the business during or after the reference period (WRC example: loss of an important contract);
• (c) circumstances to which OTWA section 5 applies (WRC example: business closed due to flooding);
• (d) the average hours were affected by a temporary situation that no longer exists (WRC example: cover for a colleague on maternity leave).

“We prefer flexibility” is not a listed ground. Silence past four weeks without placement fails subsection (3). After placement, keep a week-by-week log so the band is real, not paper only.

Section 18A(8): if the employer failed to place you within four weeks after a written request, or unreasonably refused, complain under Part 4 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015.

Section 18A(9): the adjudication officer declares whether the complaint was well founded and, if so, requires placement on the appropriate band.

Section 18A(10): that decision shall not order compensation for failure to comply with section 18A. The remedy here is placement. Separate claims (Payment of Wages Act unpaid wages, or other OTWA breaches) may still matter on their own facts; a banded-hours win does not automatically pay arrears.

Either party may appeal to the Labour Court (section 18A(11)-(12)). File via the WRC within usual time limits (commonly 6 months, with possible extension for reasonable cause: verify WRC guidance). Attach your written request, proof of sending, any refusal, hour evidence, and contract extracts.

EMPA 2018 also tightened zero-hours rules under OTWA section 18 (prohibiting zero-hours contracts except casual work, emergency circumstances, or short-term relief) and introduced a minimum payment in certain call-in situations. Citizens Information links zero-hours and banded hours: where your contract does not state the average hours you actually work over 12 months, you can seek a banded contract.

EMPA also strengthened the Day 5 core statement of terms, including hours the employer reasonably expects per normal day and week. A Day 5 figure that understates expected hours supports a later 12-month average claim. Banded hours convert that pattern into a guaranteed band for the next year.

Do not confuse Irish banded hours with UK zero-hours reforms. Republic of Ireland process runs through OTWA section 18A and the WRC, not a UK employment tribunal.

Retail. Contract 8 hours; average 18 over 12 months. Request Band D. Employer must place within 4 weeks unless section 18A(5) applies. If a collective retail banded deal exists, check section 18A(6).

Hospitality. Low contractual figure but close to 32 hours most weeks for a year: Band G. Temporary Christmas cover that has ended may engage ground (d); steady year-round averages are harder to dismiss as temporary.

Care / warehouse. Contract 20 hours; average 24: Band E. After placement, averages should stay in E for 12 months. A sudden cut to 12 without lawful basis may support a fresh failure-to-comply complaint.

Trap 1: Asking verbally only. Section 18A(2) requires a written request.

Trap 2: Requesting before 12 months’ service. Build the reference year first (subject to section 18A(14) reckonable service).

Trap 3: Treating any business excuse as valid. Only section 18A(5) grounds apply.

Trap 4: Expecting compensation under section 18A alone. Section 18A(10) bars a compensation order. The win is placement.

Trap 5: Ignoring a collective banded agreement. Section 18A(6) can take you outside this route.

Trap 6: Importing UK zero-hours process. Use WRC and Irish statute language. No ACAS early conciliation for this right.

Trap 7: Stopping your hour log after placement. Keep evidence that averages stay inside the band for 12 months.

If you are lining up a section 18A request, Paye Mes Heures can help you estimate weekly patterns over a 12-month stretch and prepare a clear dossier of dates and hours under Irish OTWA rules before you write to your employer, a union, or the WRC. It is a preparation aid for organising your own records, not a substitute for official WRC or Citizens Information guidance, and not legal advice. Get the average and band straight, then send the written request and diary the four-week deadline.

• Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018, section 16 (OTWA s.18A): https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2018/act/38/section/16/enacted/en/html
• Organisation of Working Time Act 1997, section 18A (revised): https://revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/1997/act/20/section/18A/revised/en/html
• WRC notice: Employment Misc. Provisions Act 2018: https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/news-media/workplace_relations_notices/employment-misc-provisions-act-2018.html
• WRC Working Hours (banded hours): https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/what_you_should_know/hours-and-wages/
• Citizens Information: Zero-hours contracts (banded hours): https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment-rights-and-conditions/contracts-of-employment/zero-hours-contracts/