Retail Grocery Pay Rates

This is a dymanic page – updates are towards the top of the page, general information towards the buttom.

If you want to check the latest JLC rates for retail grocery please click here to access the Labour Court website.

22 December 2011

Richard Bruton publishes the bill to reform the JLC/REA system. For a summary from the Department website please click here


13 October 2011

Following the ruling by the High Court over the summer that the JLC system is unconstitutional (Source: RTE Website), there has been much debate about the current power of the agreements.

Our opinion would be that for current employees there will be no change in the interim, unless specifically agreed with the employee. Previously, pay reduction agreements with employees would be unlawful even with employee agreement, for pay rates set below the JLC limits.

For new employees, the minimum wage of €8.65 should be adhered to. In the short term until the government reforms are brought into law, the national minimum wage may be more beneficial to the employer. However, it would be envisaged that the reforms would include a significant portion of the pay rates previously in force. An employer would also need to consider challenges from employees that are employed at a lower rate for doing the same job.

While the above is not to be interpreted as professional advice, it is food for thought on the practicalities that we currently work in. In any case the situation should become much clearer by the time the next JLC rate increase is due in January 2012.

27 July 2010

It has been announced that the increase in the JLC rate by 2.5% from 25 October 2010 has been deferred until 2011. It will be implemented in two phases of 1.25%, the first of which will be 1 January 2011 with the second to be implemented on 1 July 2011.

The table on the Labour Court website in the article below has not yet been updated.

Retail grocery pay rates are determined by the Labour Court by Employment Regulation Orders, confirmed proposals submitted by the Joint Labour Committee (JLC).

In order to ensure you are complying with the latest regulations we provide a direct link to the labour court website:

Retailed Grocery and Allied Trades – Statutory Minimum Rates of Remuneration

When you click on the above link you should see a PDF icon at the top of the page. When you click on this icon it will open the notice from the JLC confirming the latest rates. This must be posted up in your premises in a prominent location (e.g. staff canteen) so as to allow staff affected by it to be given a chance to read and fully understand the regulations.

Having determined the basic pay levels the following premiums and allowances are also payable:

Overtime

Employees who work in excess of 8 hours per day or 39 hours per week, qualify for overtime rates (or time off in lieu by agreement). For overtime worked up to midnight from Monday to Saturday, employees are entitled to time-and-a-half and to double time from midnight to 7.00am. For Sunday overtime and work on a public holiday as overtime, employees are entitled to double time.

Sunday Work Hours

Premium of time-and-one-third for Sunday work as part of rostered hours.

Bank Holiday Hours

There are a number of different criteria applying to the level of bank holiday pay. Please see our reference document for further details.