2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

“contract of employment” means—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person to do or perform personally any work or service for that person or a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and, if express, whether or not it is in writing;

F1["Act of 2015" means the National Minimum Wage (Low Pay Commission) Act 2015;

"Commission" means the Low Pay Commission established under section 10A (inserted by section 5 of the Act of 2015);]

“employee” means a person of any age who has entered into, or works or has worked under, a contract of employment;

“employer”, in relation to an employee, means the person with whom the employee has entered into, or for whom the employee works or has worked under, a contract of employment, and includes a transferee of an undertaking referred to in section 46;

“functions” includes powers and duties;

“inspector” means a person appointed under section 33(1) as an inspector;

“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

F2["national minimum hourly rate of pay" means the rate of pay declared by order of the Minister under section 10D (inserted by section 8 of the Act of 2015);]

“pay” means all amounts of payment, and any benefit-in-kind specified in Part 1 of F3[Schedule 1], made or allowed by an employer to an employee in respect of the employee’s employment;

“pay reference period”, in relation to an employee, means the period selected under section 10 by his or her employer;

“premium” means any amount in excess of basic pay payable to an employee in respect of his or her work;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act by the Minister;

“working hours” has the meaning assigned to it by section 8.

(2) A reference in this Act to an employee of an employer shall be construed as a reference to an employee employed by that employer or to whom the employer is liable to pay wages and for that purpose a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a civil servant within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956) shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or the Government and an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941, or of a harbour authority F4[or of a health board, or a member of staff of an education and training board], shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the respective authority F4[or board].

(3) In this Act—

(a) a reference to any other enactment shall, except to the extent that the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by or under any other enactment, including this Act,

(b) a reference to a section or Part is a reference to a section or Part of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,

(c) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended, and

(d) a reference to F5[a Schedule] is a reference to F5[a Schedule] to this Act.