Employment
INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE LEAVE
The right to paid domestic violence leave came into effect on 27 November 2023. We prepared two briefings on this topic, one with detail of the statutory right to domestic violence leave (here), and the other an overview of Government supports available to employers, along with our recommended next steps (here). The Parental Leave Act 1998 (Section 13Aa) (Prescribed Daily Rate of Domestic Violence Leave Pay) Regulations 2023 have since been published. They set out how to calculate the daily rate of pay for employees availing of the leave.
EXTENSION OF PROTECTED DISCLOSURES OBLIGATIONS
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 came into effect on 1 January 2023. It transposes the EU Whistleblowing Directive and significantly enhances protections for whistleblowers in Ireland.
From 1 January 2023, all private sector organisations with 250 or more employees were required to establish formal reporting channels and procedures for workers to make protected disclosures. The threshold did not apply to employers who were public bodies or who fell within the scope of specific EU legislation.
From 17 December 2023, the obligations under the Act will apply to organisations with between 50 and 249 employees. The Minister may, by way of an order, extend the application of the Act to classes of employees with less than 50 employees, but has not yet done so.
Our detailed briefing on employers’ obligations under the Act, is available here.
NEW STATUTORY GUIDANCE ON PROTECTED DISCLOSURES ACT FOR PUBLIC BODIES
In November 2023, the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform published new Statutory Guidance for Public Bodies to assist them in the performance of their functions under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. Our briefing is available here.
INCREASE OF PAID STATUTORY SICK LEAVE
Statutory sick leave under the Sick Leave Act 2022 increases from three days to five days from 1 January 2024. As a result, an employee who is incapable of work due to illness or injury is entitled to five days paid statutory sick leave per year. For more detail, our briefing is available here.
UK SUPREME COURT DELIVERS DECISION ON DELIVEROO RIDERS
In our November Horizon Scanner, we discussed the significant decision of the Irish Supreme Court in which Domino’s delivery drivers were found to be employees for the purposes of tax legislation. Subsequently, the UK Supreme Court delivered a key judgment in which it found that Deliveroo delivery riders were not employees. We considered the background to these two decisions, and why they both come with a health warning for organisations engaging individuals in Ireland, in our briefing available here.
“…. the UK Supreme Court case … related solely to whether the riders were in an employment relationship with Deliveroo ….. Therefore, appropriate care must be taken before assuming the Deliveroo judgment will have any persuasive authority in Ireland, or in asserting it found the opposite of the Domino’s judgment.”