ERO Law Clerks

Application

This ERO applies to whole-time or part-time employees employed by solicitors in connection with solicitors’ professional work and by corporate bodies in their law departments under the direction of their law agents. This includes office managers, law clerks, bookkeepers, legal secretaries and office assistants. It does not cover solicitors or solicitors’ apprentices. See ERO for detailed definitions of all categories covered.

Remuneration

Minimum Pay

Rates of minimum pay will vary depending on job type and length of service. Full details relating to statutory minimum rates of pay for each job type are set out in the ERO.

Overtime Rates

Employees are entitled to be paid time-and-a-half for all hours worked in excess of the normal hours in any week. 

Sundays and Public Holidays

Employees are entitled to be paid twice the hourly rate for all hours worked on a Sunday or on a statutory public holiday.  The hourly rate is the appropriate weekly wage divided by the appropriate normal number of hours worked per week.

Conditions of Employment

Working hours

The normal number of hours to be worked is 38 hours per week.  In relation to workers under the age of 18, the provisions of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1996 shall apply.

Rest Periods

All Employees are entitled to breaks and rest periods in accordance with the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997. Meal intervals shall not be reckoned as time worked.

Holidays

Annual leave and public holiday entitlements are in accordance with the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997.

Sick Pay Scheme

Employees are entitled to benefit under a Sick Pay Scheme after two years’ service. There is no entitlement to payment for the first three days of any absence on sick leave. A medical certificate signed by a medical practitioner is required on the fourth day (and weekly thereafter). The scheme operates on a rolling twelve months basis.

Under the Scheme, employees are entitled to three weeks’ pay at appropriate ERO rates.  The employee will be responsible for claiming his/her Social Welfare entitlements while on sick leave and for paying over such payments to the employers. Employers reserve the right to refer an employee for assessment by the employer’s nominated doctor.

The scheme does not cover absences from work as a result of injury received when working for another employer. Sick pay will be refundable to the employer under the scheme where loss of wages can be or are recouped from another source in respect of absence from work.

Miscellaneous

The ERO provides definitions of different grades in addition to specifying each function and responsibility required of each category of worker. See ERO for more details.