How much extra should I get for working a Sunday in Ireland?
Check how your employer accounts for Sunday work, whether through a premium, an inclusive salary or paid time off. Follow a €16-an-hour payslip example.
Wealth / The Compound journalPhoto: Joseph Mischyshyn, Falcarragh – Spar convenience store off N56, 20 September 2004, Geograph / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Illustrative image.
For an employee required to work a Sunday in the Republic of Ireland, there is no single statutory Sunday multiplier. First check whether Sunday working was already taken into account when your pay was set. If it was not, section 14 requires the employer to compensate you. That can be a reasonable allowance, a higher rate of pay, reasonable paid time off, or a combination. Section 14 of the Organisation of Working Time Act
How much should one Sunday add to my payslip?
Suppose you earn €16 an hour and your contract gives you time and a quarter for Sunday hours. You work 39 paid hours this week, eight of them on Sunday. All eight form part of your normal roster. Assume no overtime or other allowances.
| Payslip entry | Calculation | Gross pay |
|---|---|---|
| Basic pay for the whole week | 39 × €16 | €624 |
| Sunday premium on eight hours | 8 × (€16 × 25%) | €32 |
| Total before deductions | €624 + €32 | €656 |
Payroll could instead show 31 ordinary hours at €16 (€496) and eight Sunday hours at €20 (€160). Both presentations give €656. Adding €160 to €624 would count the basic pay for those eight hours twice. The 25% in this example comes from the contract. Section 14 sets no nationwide percentage.
For your own calculation, use paid Sunday hours, excluding any unpaid break. Where a shift crosses midnight, record the start, finish and break times and check how the applicable agreement treats that shift. Use the salary-to-hourly calculator to convert a basic annual salary to an hourly equivalent.
What if my salary already includes Sundays?
Suppose one employer offers €39,000 inclusive of Sunday work, and another offers €38,000 basic plus €50 per Sunday worked. Both jobs have the same paid hours and leave. At 20 Sundays a year the second offer pays €38,000 + (20 × €50) = €39,000. At 12 Sundays it pays €38,600. Ask how many Sundays are guaranteed or normally rostered before using the higher figure in a household budget.
Dividing the inclusive salary by annual hours tells you its gross hourly equivalent. It cannot tell you how the employer priced Sunday work. Ask for the relevant contract clause, pay scale or collective agreement and an explanation of how it applies to your role. A missing Sunday line on one payslip does not settle whether the salary accounts for it. Compare gross first and use the take-home pay calculator separately for an estimate after deductions.
If your compensation is paid time off
Check how much paid time you earn, when it is credited and when you can take it. For example, if your agreement grants two hours of paid time off for a particular shift, check that the balance increases by two hours and that taking them does not reduce your normal pay. An ordinary unpaid day off after a shift does not establish that you received paid compensation. There is no general two-hour entitlement in this example.
Overtime and Sunday work answer different questions. A Sunday can be part of a normal working week. If the shift is also overtime, check whether your agreement combines the premiums or specifies a single applicable rate before budgeting for both.
How to query a discrepancy
- Pick one pay period. Gather your written terms, roster, time record, payslip and any paid-leave balance. Mark the Sunday hours actually worked and the payroll cut-off date. WRC guidance on written terms
- Give payroll the date, hours and the clause you used. For the example above, a useful question is: “My payslip shows €624 for 39 hours including eight on Sunday. Where is the €32 Sunday premium recorded, and in which pay period?”
- If there is no specified figure, check whether a collective agreement covers comparable work. Section 14 provides for comparison in proceedings under particular conditions. For shop workers, the WRC’s retail code explains how comparable retail agreements can help establish an arrangement.
- If it remains unresolved, contact your union or the Workplace Relations Commission promptly. The usual complaint time limit is six months from the alleged breach. An extension up to twelve months requires reasonable cause. Keep track of that deadline while discussing the issue internally. WRC complaints guide, section 7
Archive photograph of a retail checkout in Donegal by Joseph Mischyshyn, Geograph / Wikimedia Commons, 20 September 2004. CC BY-SA 2.0. Social previews crop the photograph. The pictured shop illustrates the setting and its pay arrangements are not discussed.
