In recent years the landscape of employment status and working time arrangements has changed alongside a demand by employers for more flexibility with regard to employment, most notably in relation to numerical flexibility, i.e., the ability to increase/decrease workforce numbers in line with fluctuating demands. Thus, a wide range of contract types and categories of contractual status has developed over time. Zero hours contracts have been a come under political and public scrutiny in a number of countries, notably Ireland, the UK, Finland and New Zealand. Trade unions have criticised their use by employers and have sought greater legal protection for people working on a zero hours basis.
Increased lobbying by trade unions in Ireland led to the government commissioning a study on the prevalence and implications of zero hours contracts and the study was subsequently undertaken by the authors in 2015. Ireland is an interesting case study on the effect of the law on atypical work. The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 regulates zero hours contracts and this law has been considered as an example of regulation that could be adopted in other countries.1 This chapter analyses the 1997 Act and argues that, rather than adequately address the issue of zero hours contracts, it was constructed in a narrow fashion and did not prevent or adequately regulate the full spectrum of zero hours arrangements.
The chapter is structured as follows. It begins with a contextual backdrop to the introduction of the zero hours regulation in the Organisation of Working Time Act. The methodology is outlined followed by an explanation of the relevant regulation in Section 18 of that Act. This is followed by a discussion on the differences between zero hours contracts as provided for in legislation and the reality of zero hours working arrangements, based on interviews with informed stakeholders. We then discuss the critical issue of employment status in Irish law and review case law which highlights the lack of legal protections afforded to people on zero hours working arrangements. Lastly, we consider proposals from commentators on how to extend legal protections to people undertaking zero hours work.