Working time + compensatory rest — Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is the core Irish statute on hours and rest. Film and TV production strains against it constantly — long shoot days, night shoots, weather cover, tight turnarounds — so producers need to know both the limits and the derogation mechanism.

The limits

• Maximum average working week of 48 hours, averaged over a reference period (typically four months).
• Daily rest: 11 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period.
• Weekly rest: 24 consecutive hours in each 7-day period (in addition to the daily rest).
• Breaks: 15 minutes after 4.5 hours worked; 30 minutes after 6 hours.
• Plus Sunday premium, paid annual leave and public-holiday entitlements.

Compensatory rest

Production work often can't pause for a full rest period mid-activity. The Act allows derogation from the daily/weekly rest and break requirements for certain activities (including those needing continuity of service), provided the employee receives equivalent compensatory rest within a reasonable period. Compensatory rest is the lawful release valve — but it must actually be granted and recorded, not just assumed.

In Togra

Theme F runs a working-time breach workflow: it detects shoot days/turnarounds that breach the daily or weekly rest thresholds, drives the compensatory-rest follow-up (what's owed and when), and flags a systematic pattern (repeated breaches across a production) for escalation in the compliance inbox. Companion people-compliance topics: Fixed-term work — Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003, Child performance licences, Safe to Create + Minding Creative Minds.