Prior to the introduction of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, job-sharers were entitled to half of the 10 public holidays. In effect, this meant that whenever a public holiday fell on a job sharer's week off, they would not receive any benefit for that public holiday. Job-sharing staff who were scheduled to work on a week in which a public holiday fell were, and still are, entitled to:

 a paid day off on the holiday itself; or
•  a paid day off within a month; or
•  an extra day's annual leave; or
•  an extra day's pay

The provisions of the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, however, improve public holidays for some but not all job-sharers.

Under the Act, job-sharers who work Monday to Friday and who work week on/week off, split week or similar arrangement, are entitled to an additional one-tenth of a fortnight's pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are not scheduled to work.

The Act does not provide any additional benefit to job-sharers who work shifts because they already receive in excess of the legal minimum requirement.

The additional benefit, therefore, applies only to those job-sharing nurses who:

Work Monday to Friday and who work week on/week off, split weeks or similar arrangements.

The additional benefit does not apply to those job-sharing nurses who:

Work a '5 over 7' roster (7-day week) because they already receive in excess of the legal minimum requirement, i.e. they receive an additional 5 days annual leave in lieu of their liability to work public holidays;

They receive single-time extra (i.e. an additional day's pay in respect of any public holiday on which they are scheduled to work.

Job-sharing nurses who work a half-day on/half-day off arrangement do not receive an additional benefit under the Act - they continue to receive one-tenth of a fortnight's pay for each of the 10 public holidays.