PART I.

Preliminary and General.

1. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Shops (Conditions of Employment) Act, 1938.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as shall be fixed for that purpose by order of the Minister either generally or with reference to any particular Part or provision and different days may be so fixed for different Parts and different provisions of this Act.

2. —(1) In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the expression “retail trade or business” includes the business of a barber or hairdresser, the business of the lending for reward of books or periodicals, the business of a pawnbroker, the sale of refreshments or intoxicating liquors, and retail sales by auction, but does not include the sale of programmes or catalogues at theatres or other places of amusement;

the expression “wholesale shop” means any premises occupied by a wholesale dealer or merchant where goods are kept for sale wholesale to customers resorting to the premises;

the word “shop” includes—

(a) any premises in which any retail trade or business is carried on, excluding so much (if any) of such premises as is not used for the purpose of such retail trade or business;

(b) any premises in which goods are received direct from customers for the purpose of having the same dyed, cleaned, repaired, altered or laundered, excluding so much (if any) of such premises as is not used for such reception of such goods;

(c) any wholesale shop;

(d) any warehouse occupied—

(i) for the purposes of a retail trade or business, by the person carrying on such retail trade or business, or

(ii) by a wholesale dealer or merchant for the purposes of the business carried on by him in a wholesale shop;

(e) a hotel;

the word “hotel” means any premises structurally adapted for use and bona-fide used as a hotel and having apartments set apart and exclusively used for the sleeping accommodation of travellers;

the expression “refreshment house” means a hotel or any premises which are structurally adapted for use as and are used as a restaurant, café or tea-shop (whether such premises are or are not licensed for the sale by retail of intoxicating liquor);

the expression “licensed premises” means any premises (not being a refreshment house) which are licensed for the sale by retail of intoxicating liquor;

the word “proprietor” when used in relation to a shop means the person who carries on business at that shop;

the expression “industrial work” means industrial work within the meaning of the Conditions of Employment Act, 1936 (No. 2 of 1936);

the expression “member of the staff” means—

(a) when used in relation to a shop (other than a refreshment house), any person who (whether he does or does not receive wages for his services) does for the proprietor of such shop any work which is wholly or mainly performed within or in the precincts of such shop and is wholly or mainly in connection with the serving of customers or the receipt of orders or the dispatch of goods or the unpacking or packing of goods, and is not industrial work, and

(b) when used in relation to a shop, which is a refreshment house, any person who (whether he does or does not receive wages for his services) does for the proprietor of such shop any work in connection with the business carried on therein (other than clerical work or work connected with the management of such shop) which is wholly or mainly performed within or in the precincts of such shop, and is not industrial work;

the word “relative” when used in relation to the proprietor of a shop means a person who—

(a) is the wife, husband, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, step-father, or step-mother of such proprietor or is a son, daughter, grandson, grand-daughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, or half-sister of such proprietor, and

(b) is maintained by and dwells in the house of such proprietor;

the word “juvenile” means a person who has attained the age of fourteen years and has not attained the age of eighteen years;

the expression “shop work” means work (whether within or outside a shop) which is connected with or ancillary to the business carried on at a shop, but does not include work in connection with a wholesale shop or a warehouse occupied by a wholesale dealer or merchant, other than—

(a) work within the premises, or

(b) work in the collection or delivery of goods, or in attendance upon customers, or in carrying messages or running errands;

the word “year” when used without qualification means the period between midnight on the last Saturday night in December and midnight on the last Saturday night in the next month of December;

the word “prescribed” when used in relation to the District Court means prescribed by regulations made under this Act by the Minister for Justice and in every other case means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.

(2) A member of the staff of a shop shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to be in the employment of the proprietor of such shop.

(3) For the purposes of this Act a person who is a member of the staff of a shop shall be deemed to be doing shop work during any period (other than intervals allowed for meals or rest) during which he is present (otherwise than in contravention of a direction of the proprietor of such shop) in such shop and his services are at the disposal of such proprietor.

(4) Where different trades or businesses are carried on by the same person in different parts of any premises, any part of such premises in which any particular class of retail trade or business is carried on shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a shop.

3. —The provisions of this Act shall extend to any place where or any vehicle from which any retail trade or business is carried on as if that place or vehicle were a shop and as if in relation to any such place or vehicle the person by whom the retail trade or business is carried on were the proprietor of that shop.

4. —(1) Nothing in this Act shall apply to any fair lawfully held or to any bazaar or sale of work for charitable or other purposes from which no private profit is derived or to any library at which the business of lending books or periodicals is not carried on for the purposes of gain other than that of making profits for some philanthropic or charitable object (including any religious or educational object) or for any club or institution which is not itself carried on for purposes of gain.

(2) This Act shall not, save where otherwise expressly provided, apply in respect of—

(a) a member of the staff of a shop who is a relative of the proprietor of such shop, or

(b) a member of the staff of a shop in which Post Office business is carried on who is appointed by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, or

(c) a person (other than a member of the staff of a shop) who does shop work for the proprietor of such shop and who is a relative of such proprietor, or

(d) railway refreshment-car attendants or railway refreshment-cars.

5. —Every person guilty of an offence under any section of this Act shall, save in the case of an offence for which a special penalty is provided by this Act, be liable on summary conviction thereof—

(a) where such person is a member of the staff of a shop, to a fine—

(i) in the case of a first such offence, not exceeding two pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding ten shillings for every day on which such offence is continued, and

(ii) in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, not exceeding five pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding one pound for every day on which such offence is continued, or

(b) where such person is not a member of the staff of a shop, to a fine—

(i) in the case of a first such offence, not exceeding ten pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding two pounds for every day on which such offence is continued, and

(ii) in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, not exceeding twenty pounds, together with (where such offence is a continuing offence) a further fine not exceeding four pounds for every day on which such offence is continued.

6. —Where an offence under any section of this Act was committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other officer of such body corporate, such director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of such offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

7. —(1) Any offence under any section of this Act (except Part VI) may be prosecuted by the Minister.

(2) Any offence under any section of this Act (except Part VI) committed by the proprietor of a shop in relation to a member of the staff of that shop may be prosecuted by such member or by any official of a registered trade union of which such member is a member.

8. —Where a person is charged with any offence under any section contained in Part III or Part IV of this Act, it shall be a good defence to such charge for such person to prove to the satisfaction of the court before which such offence is tried that the alleged contravention of such section was rendered necessary or reasonably proper by the actual occurrence or the threat or reasonable anticipation of fire, flood, storm, violence, or any other emergency.

9. —(1) The Minister may, whenever and so often as he thinks fit, by order (in this Act referred to as a records order) require every person who is the proprietor of a shop to keep at such shop in relation to each member of the staff of such shop, records of such matters as are in his opinion necessary for the due enforcement of Parts II , III and IV of this Act and are specified in such order, and, if he thinks fit, may by such order require such records to be in a specified form.

(2) The Minister may by order under this section amend or revoke any order made under this section (including this sub-section).

(3) If whenever a records order is in force the proprietor of a shop fails, neglects, or refuses to comply with the requirements of such order or makes in any record, which such proprietor is required by such order to keep, any entry which is false in any material respect knowing the same to be false, such proprietor shall be guilty of an offence under this section.

(4) This section shall not apply in respect of the proprietor of a shop if the only members of the staff of such shop are relatives of such proprietor.

10. —(1) An inspector may, for the purposes of enforcing the provisions of Parts I , II , III and IV of this Act do all or any of the following things, that is to say:—

(a) enter at all reasonable times any shop or part thereof;

(b) require the proprietor of such shop or the representative of such proprietor to produce to him any records which such proprietor is required by a records order to keep, and inspect and take copies of entries in such records.

(2) If any person—

(a) obstructs or impedes an inspector in the exercise of any of the powers conferred on such inspector by this section, or

(b) refuses to produce any record which an inspector law-fully requires him to produce, or

(c) produces or causes to be produced or knowingly allows to be produced to an inspector any record which is false in any material respect knowing the same to be false,

such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section.

(3) In this section the word “inspector” means a person appointed by the Minister to exercise the powers conferred on an inspector by this section.

11. —(1) The proprietor of a shop shall in both the Irish and English languages display in such shop in such a position that it can be easily read by members of the staff of such shop the prescribed abstract of this Act in the prescribed form.

(2) If the proprietor of a shop fails to comply with the requirements of this section, such proprietor shall be guilty of an offence under this section.

(3) This section shall not apply in respect of the proprietor of a shop if the only members of the staff of such shop arc relatives of such proprietor.

12. —The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed and which is not authorised by this Act to be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister for Justice.

13. —Every order made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling such order is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which such House has sat after such order is laid before it, such order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.

14. —All expenses incurred in carrying this Act (other than Part VI) into execution shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

15. —The enactments mentioned in the First Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of that Schedule.