Ireland in court over work-hour breaches
The case which is being taken against the State by the European Commission will open at the ECJ in Luxembourg on Wednesday.
Brussels first raised its concern about the practice of non-consultant hospital doctors working excessive hours with the Government in 2009 but has grown frustrated at the lack of progress on the issue despite some recent improvements to the work schedule.
In particular, the European Commission is arguing that Ireland is in breach of the directive in terms of the number of hours worked per day, the maximum number of working hours in a week and the minimum rest periods.
It claims Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under the directive in relation to non-consultant hospital doctors.
The commission has repeatedly expressed concern that many junior doctors in Ireland were regularly required to work continuous 36-hour shifts with some working more than 100 hours in a single week.
Brussels believes such work practices were not only endangering the health and safety of doctors but also their patients because of the increased risk of over-tired doctors making mistakes.
Legal representatives of the State are expected to argue that the problem is largely historical as hospitals have faced financial penalties if they are not in compliance with the directive since the start of 2014.
It is understood compliance levels have improved with the filling of vacant posts last year.
The HSE had promised that the practice would be eliminated by the end of 2014. However, a report published by the HSE last June showed that the health services still faced significant challenges in making progress to comply with the Working Time Directive. Nevertheless, it acknowledged that improvements had been made and there was now widespread compliance with rules governing a maximum 24-hour shift.
If the State loses the case, it may face a lump-sum penalty and/or a daily fine for each day it continues to infringe the working time rules.
If the commission does refer a member state back to the court, it can propose that the court imposes financial penalties on the member state concerned based on the duration and severity on the infringement and the size of the member state.
There are two elements: a lump sum depending on the time elapsed since the original court ruling; and a daily penalty payment for each day after a second court ruling until the infringement ends.
Ireland has repeatedly been warned by Brussels over the past decade about its failure to ensure that the work practices of junior doctors were not breacking the EU’s Working Time Directive following a complaint by the Irish Medical Organisation.
The European Commission said that Ireland’s stated intention to improve compliance, there was simply insufficient progress made on the issue given the excessive nuber of hours which junior doctors were still required to work.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
