Leading Nursing and Domiciliary Care agency Lucas Love Healthcare has once again proved its position as Northern Ireland’s leading provider of permanent, temporary and contract recruitment of healthcare professionals.
The agency, which prides itself on providing excellent rates of pay as well as enhanced staff training and benefits, has since its inception in 2009 ensured that fair treatment of its staff is a priority. As part of that commitment Directors Susanne Ritchie and Sinead Polland ensure that not only do their employees get excellent rates of pay, but all staff accrue holiday pay on each and every hour that they work.
Reflecting on the ruling at the Employment Appeal Tribunal to include overtime in the calculation of holiday pay, Sinead Polland, Director and Registered Nurse Manager said, “We welcome the news that employers across the UK could be brought in line with a practice that we have long undertaken as part of our commitment to our hard working staff.”
“The healthcare sector is a rapidly growing market and we feel that our staff should benefit fully from what can be an incredibly rewarding profession. Our permanent, temporary and contract professionals deliver a quality service and the highest levels of care in positions right across Northern Ireland and we firmly believe that they should accrue holiday pay for every hour that they work.”
Currently, only basic pay counts when calculating holiday pay and the landmark ruling by the Employment Appeal Tribunal means workers will be eligible for overtime included in holiday pay following a test case on the UK interpretation of the Working Time Directive. The tribunal also ruled that workers can make backdated claims, but only for a very limited period. The ruling could yet be referred to The Court of Appeal, meaning a final decision may be some time away.
Susanne Ritchie, Finance Director said “We have made the conscious decision to process our payroll in-house despite several more cost effective options being offered by the many umbrella organisations operating and widely used within the agency sector. We wanted our staff to accrue holiday pay on every penny that they earned regardless of whether it was over the perceived “normal” working hours or indeed if at the lower end of the earnings ladder. We have a dedicated payroll team in-house ensuring all our staff are fairly paid for the hard work they do.”