Maximum distance employees forced to Travel

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shipibo

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A Chairde,



I am hammerin , this board today .... apologies, but someone has ta do it !!!


Is there any legislation in Irish/ EU Law specifying the maximum distance you can be forced to travel from your work base for off-site work.

The worker(s) I am talking about are not getting mileage , or any other allowance, and do not have a contract.


They have been asked to work in Waterford on Mon, Tue, Thur and Fri for six months, all are Dublin based , and this was not mentioned at start of employment.
 
No contract? Do they not have even terms and conditions of employment?

As a rule of thumb, I would apply the Civil Service rates for entitlements to benefits when you travel away from your base of work and in this case it would be Dublin.

Sounds dodgy to me - You wouldn't happen to be talking about a transport service company would you?
 
crumdub12 - I read in another thread that you are a union rep. so (and not being smart!) just wondered does the union not send you on courses to learn about stuff like this - e.g. employee rights, workplace legislation etc.? If not there is some useful information on the and the DETE websites in case that helps.
 
Thanks Mo3art,Clubman,


No problem, This is not an issue within the Union, this is actually a question I was asked by a Locum Doctor !!!!

Seemingly, to specialize , you need to do an additional 4 years working in a scheme run by other doctors.

The IMO will not recognise them until they are finished , so this situation has arisen.

Slan / Ed
 
No , If you want to become doctor .I.E GP, you need to finish your seven years in college, and then specialize in subject for four.

this is interesting ..... This is information I have received from person .
They've been trying to get one for ages. Apparently if you work for a single employer for over 365 days you automatically get some government defined contract (which I think favours the employee). They keep moving them from place to place which means they never get up to 365 days in one place.


Pretty poor form on behalf of Mary Harney.



 
Pretty poor form on behalf of Mary Harney.


Ah, come on now...say what you like about the person, but are you really saying that Mary Hharney is responcible for this??? It seems like this is an issue that is inherent in the system, and is fior all we know an agreed prtactice between all concerned, and the norm internationally. Do you really belive its one persons doing?? and one who has only been in the job 7 months?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Apologies for offending you.


Did not state was all her fault, but the medical profession is getting a hammering at present, and these are people should be getting a better deal.

Internationally, this is not the case, Britain has a centralized, structured approach to this.

The Irish system is an Old Boys club; read the mails above, you would expect better in Ireland 2005.
 
Shades of The Junior Doctors being expected to work 80+ hours per week.

It took the EU to root that out

Pretty poor form on behalf of The Minister of the day
 
RainyDay said:
What institution employs these locom GP's?
Click to expand...

Not sure about institutions but individual GP practices often employ locums to alleviate pressure or to fill in when the regular doctor is otherwise absent.
 
ClubMan said:
Not sure about institutions but individual GP practices often employ locums to alleviate pressure or to fill in when the regular doctor is otherwise absent.
Click to expand...
My question possibly wasn't clear - The reason for asking was that I understood that a lot of locum doctors are taken on by agencies as independent contractors, not as PAYE employees. This is what I trying to get at with my question.
 
Oh - right. I always assumed that a locum was "placed" s/he was employed by the GP practice itself. I didn't think/realise that there were agencies involved but I suppose it makes sense that there are.
 
A locum doctor doesn't have to accept a post if it is too far from home - it is purely a matter of personal choice. In addition, locums are often paid over the odds to compensate them for such inconveniences.
 
The rules that apply to most workers are not applied to doctors in training. It has never been any other way. I'd be interested to know who is asking the question. Is it a junior doctor in training in a hospital or a doctor on a GP Training Scheme? Doctors do not have to be "recognised" by the IMO - that is a trade union but do have to be registered by the Medical Council and have undergone an appropriate training scheme for specialisation. It would not be usual for GP training programs to have six month stints in different locations. Sounds like the people you are talking to aren't familiar with the system.

Doctors who are already fully trained may do locums for GPs and usually make arrangements directly with the employing doctor. Membership of a union is not mandatory but I'm sure the IMO or Irish College of General Practitioners would be able to answer your questions. Hope this helps.
 
Sherib - I completely agree with you.

Crumdub12 states that the doctor in question is a locum. As far as I am aware, there are only locum agencies for GPs not for hospital docs- an agreement is signed and potential placements are offered to the doctor in question. It is personal choice as to which placement they take.

Individual hospitals may advertise for hospital locums to cover sick leave, maternity leave etc. The employiing hospital is then responsible for issuing a contract and negotiating terms and conditions with the employee. Doesn't sound like this is the case, as the person(s) in question would have known at the outset that they would end up in Waterford.

In addition, if there are vacancies on regional or national specialist training schemes, such that hospitals are short staffed in the short to medium term, locum positions may be advertised to fill the gaps. Although such schemes may be predominantly based in Dublin, they are "regional" rather than city schemes and can on occasion include posts to other regional hospitals. In such instances, although the locum may apply for a post through the training scheme, each hospital to which the locum is sent is responsible for issuing a contract for the duration of that particular placement. This rule also applies to docs who are officially on the training scheme. It is unusual for docs to know more than a month or two in advance where they are going to be sent to next, and can regularly get shipped around the country.

Although I am sympathetic to the plight of the individuals to whom crumdub12 refers, that is the reality of Medicine in Ireland and it is the same for every non-consultant doctor in the country. The population density in Britain is such that docs don't need to commute so far for their placements simply because there are more hospitals in each region, rather than there being massive differences between the two systems.
 
A Chairde,

Thanks very much for all the help / information on this subject, it is an area I have little experience in, and have picked up a lot of information.




Again, Thanks for all the input, I really appreciate it.
 
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