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A recruiting company that hires contact trackers for the Health Service Executive has said there was a “mistake” in the contracts sent to job applicants, which the Dáil today describes as “zero hour” contracts.
In a statement, the CPL company said it was writing to the candidates with an amended letter.
CPL said the letter would assure candidates that the arrangements were based on contracts of 37 hours per week over an 11-month period.
It comes after TD Richard Boyd Barrett of Solidarity-People Before Profit said he had received an email from a science graduate who had applied for a job as a contract tracker and had received a “zero hour” contract from CPL .
The contract, seen by RTÉ News, states: “There is no obligation on the part of the company to provide you with work and it is not obligated to accept the job offered.”
It also says that “the company does not guarantee that weekly hours will be offered to you.”
It states that if a person agrees with the nature of the work offered in the contract, there may be periods when no suitable work is available.
In relation to sick pay, the contract says: “The company will not make any payment for any day that you do not attend work.”
At the Dáil, Boyd Barrett said the contract did not include fixed hours or sick pay, and that it could be terminated at any time.
He said this was “shocking” and that the country could not return to normal without a professional contract tracking regime and with sufficient resources.
Mr Boyd Barrett said he was risking lives to try to fight Covid-19 at the rear with cheap labor and with “poor conditions” for workers operating on the front line.
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Speaking on RTÉ’s Drivetime, he said he is not reassured by the statement that there was an “error” in the contracts sent to job applicants and is seeking further clarification from CPL.
Boyd Barrett said he has not yet addressed the issue of sick pay and unfair firings, and clarity is required regarding the sentence that “the company does not guarantee that you will be offered hours on a weekly basis.”
He said, “Having a working contact tracing regimen is the only way we’ll get out of a constant cycle of lockdowns.”
He added that “the HSE should award adequate and decent contracts to highly qualified people,” as otherwise they will have difficulty hiring people.
Boyd Barrett said that contact trackers currently working at the position have told him that they are thinking of leaving their jobs, while others who were thinking of applying for those positions are looking for work elsewhere.
In a statement tonight, the HSE said that CPL would contact the candidates by email to acknowledge the error and inform them that it was not intentional in any way.
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