SHOPS (CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT) (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1942

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SHOPS (CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1938. [24th February, 1942.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definition and construction.

1.—(1) In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Shops (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1938 (No. 4 of 1938).

• (2) This Act shall be construed as one with the Principal Act and accordingly every expression and word to which a particular meaning is given by the Principal Act for the purposes of that Act shall have in and for the purposes of this Act the meaning so given.

2 Amendment of definition of “member of the staff” in the Principal Act.

2.—The definition of the expression “member of the staff” contained in sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Principal Act is hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that the said expression, where it occurs in the Principal Act or this Act, shall mean—

• (a) when used in relation to a shop (other than a refreshment house), any person who (whether he does or does not receive wages for his services) works for the proprietor of such shop and whose work for such proprietor is wholly or mainly performed within or in the precincts of such shop and is wholly or mainly in connection with the serving of customers or the receipt of orders or the dispatch of goods or the unpacking or packing of goods, and is not industrial work, and

• (b) when used in relation to a shop, which is a refreshment house, any person who (whether he does or does not receive wages for his services) works for the proprietor of such shop and whose work for such proprietor is in connection with the business carried on in such shop and is wholly or mainly performed within or in the precincts of such shop, and is not industrial work or wholly or mainly clerical work or work connected with the management of such shop.

3 Amendment of section 3 of the Principal Act.

3.—(1) Section 3 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the deletion therefrom of the words “or any vehicle from which” and the words “or vehicle” wherever the latter words occur.

• (2) The Principal Act (except Part VI thereof) shall extend to any vehicle in respect of which the following conditions are complied with, namely—

• (a) the vehicle is being used, for the time being, wholly or mainly for the purposes of retail trade or business carried on therefrom,

• (b) the vehicle travels from place to place for the purposes of such retail trade or business,

• (c) such retail trade or business does not consist wholly or mainly of the selling of any one or more of the following commodities, namely, bread, flour confectionery, milk and ice cream,

as if the vehicle were a shop and as if the person by whom such retail trade or business is carried on were the proprietor of that shop, and for the purposes of such extension the expression “member of the staff” where it occurs in the Principal Act, shall, notwithstanding anything contained in section 2 of this Act, be construed, in its application to the vehicle, as meaning a person who travels on the vehicle and is employed (as driver or otherwise) for the purposes of such retail trade or business.

• (3) The provisions of the Principal Act shall be deemed never to have extended to any vehicle from which there was carried on the retail trade of selling ice-cream, if and so long as the retail trade of selling ice-cream was the only or main trade carried on from such vehicle, and section 3 of the Principal Act shall be deemed always to have had effect accordingly.

4 Cesser of application of Principal Act to hotels outside Dublin City.

4.—The provisions of the Principal Act shall cease to apply in respect of any hotel situate outside the county borough of Dublin, and accordingly the word “shop”, where it occurs in the Principal Act or in this Act, shall be construed as not including any such hotel.

5 Amendment of section 23 of the Principal Act.

5.—Section 23 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the addition of a new sub-section as follows—

• (5) The Minister may, whenever and so often as he thinks fit, by order under this sub-section amend in respect of hotels the provisions of sub-sections (1) and (2) of this section.

6 Amendment of section 29 of the Principal Act.

6.—Section 29 of the Principal Act is hereby amended by the insertion in sub-section (3) of the following paragraph in lieu of paragraph (a), that is to say:—

• “(a) in relation to a member of the staff of a shop which is a refreshment house, the hour of 3 p.m. or the time at which such member has completed five hours shop work on the relevant day in such shop, whichever is the earlier, and”.

7 Employments in spells of members of staffs of refreshment houses on weekly half-holidays.

7.—The hours of employment of a member of the staff of a shop, which is a refreshment house, shall not on any day on which such member is allowed a half-holiday, within the meaning of section 29 of the Principal Act, as amended by this Act, be divided into more than two spells and the period between any such spells shall not exceed one hour in duration.

8 Compensatory holidays to members of staffs of refreshment houses engaged in work on Sunday.

8.—(1) Where the proprietor of a shop which is a refreshment house does not allow a member of the staff of that shop a whole holiday on a Sunday in any week, such proprietor shall allow to him on some day (not being a day on which such proprietor allows him, in pursuance of Part IV of the Principal Act, a whole holiday or a half-holiday) within that week—

• (a) in case such member does on that Sunday shop work for more than five hours, a whole holiday, or

• (b) in case such member does on that Sunday shop work either (i) for a period of not more than three hours ending after the hour of 12 noon, or (ii) for a period of more than three hours but not more than five hours, a half holiday.

• (2) Where—

• (a) a member of the staff of a shop which is a refreshment house is entitled in any week to a half-holiday under sub-section (1) of this section, and

• (b) the proprietor of such shop allows such member a whole holiday on the day in such week which is in respect of such member a statutory half-holiday,

such proprietor shall be deemed to have allowed such member a half-holiday under this section on that day.

• (3) Where—

• (a) a member of the staff of a shop which is a refreshment house does shop work on alternate Sundays, and

• (b) the proprietor of such shop is, in pursuance of sub-section (1) of this section, required, in respect of shop work done by such member on a Sunday in any week, to allow such member a whole holiday, such proprietor shall be deemed to have complied with such requirement if he allows such member—

• (i) a half-holiday on some week day (not being a day which is in respect of such member a statutory half-holiday) within such week, and a half-holiday on some week day (not being a day which is in respect of such member a statutory half-holiday) within the next following week, or

• (ii) a whole holiday on the day in such week which is in respect of such member a statutory half-holiday, and a whole holiday on the day in the next following week which is in respect of such member a statutory half-holiday.

• (4) If the proprietor of a shop fails, neglects or refuses to comply with the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section, such proprietor shall be guilty of an offence under this section, and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to the penalties mentioned in the Third Schedule to the Principal Act.

• (5) Section 35 of the Principal Act shall not apply in respect of any shop which is a refreshment house.

• (6) In this section the expression “statutory half-holiday”, when used in relation to a member of the staff of a shop which is a refreshment house, means a day on which such member is allowed a half-holiday under section 34 of the Principal Act.

9 Amendment of Rule 2 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act.

9.—Where—

• (a) a person employed as a member of the staff of a refreshment house is provided with dinner at such refreshment house on any day, and

• (b) is allowed on that day, for the purpose of partaking of dinner, an interval of not less than forty-five minutes, so arranged as either to end not earlier than 11.45 a.m. or to commence not later than 3 p.m.,

the provisions of paragraph (1) of Rule 2 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall be deemed to have been complied with in respect of that person on that day.

10 Amendment of Rule 3 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act as respects chemists' assistants.

10.—(1) Where—

• (a) the proprietor of a shop is a person entitled to keep open such shop for the sale of poisons under the Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, as amended by the Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, Amendment Act, 1890, and

• (b) such proprietor does not personally manage and conduct such shop, but employs as members of the staff of such shop two assistants who are duly qualified under the said Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, as so amended, to manage and conduct such shop, and no more, and

• (c) on any day on which the hours of work of one of the said assistants (in this section referred to as the assistant on afternoon duty) include the hours from 4 p.m. to 7.30 p.m., the other of the said assistants is, by reason of his being allowed a half-holiday in pursuance of the Principal Act, absent from such shop during the whole of the hours from 4 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. on that day,

Rule 3 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall not apply on that day in respect of the assistant on afternoon duty.

• (2) Where—

• (a) the proprietor of a shop is a person entitled to keep open such shop for the sale of poisons under the Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, as amended by the Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, Amendment Act, 1890, and

• (b) such proprietor personally manages and conducts such shop, and employs as a member of the staff of such shop one assistant, who is duly qualified under the said Pharmacy Act (Ireland), 1875, as so amended, to manage and conduct such shop, and no more,

Rule 3 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Act shall not apply in respect of such assistant on one day (being a day on which the hours of work of such assistant include the hours from 4 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.) in each week, and that one day shall be such day as such proprietor may from time to time select.

11 Short title and collective citation.

11.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Shops (Conditions of Employment) (Amendment) Act, 1942.

• (2) The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Shops (Conditions of Employment) Acts, 1938 and 1942.