New Legislation Enacted and Proposed Bills or Initiatives
Quarter 4 of 2022 brought many proposed bills, initiative and legislations into place. These are outlined below.
The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022
New Legislation Enacted
On December 1, 2022, the Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022 (the Act) came into effect. The Act introduced new requirements for employers regarding the distribution of electronic tips and gratuities, including the requirement to provide relevant employees with a policy on electronic tips and gratuities within five days of commencing employment. The Act applies to a number of sectors including tourism, hospitality, beauty and hair services, gaming, bookmakers, and transport services such as those provided by taxi or minibus.
Government Publishes Revised Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022
Proposed Bill or Initiative
In November 2022, the Government announced the integration of the Right to Request Remote Working into the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022. The Bill is expected to be passed into law in the coming months.
As part of key changes proposed in the Bill, employees who have six months’ continuous service with their employer will have a legal right to request to work remotely. Employers will be required to either approve or deny the request within four weeks of receipt or eight weeks in certain circumstances. Employers are required to consider both parties’ needs and the guidance that will be set out in a Code of Practice.
Where an application is refused, an employer must inform the employee of the grounds for refusal in writing. Further, those with certain caring responsibilities will have a legal right to request flexible working arrangements. Additionally, the bill provides for paid domestic violence leave of up to five days’ paid leave in any period of 12 consecutive months.
Government Publishes Employment Permits Bill 2022
Proposed Bill or Initiative
In October 2022, the Government published the Employment Permits Bill 2022, which among other provisions proposes:
(i) The introduction of a new seasonal employment permit to cater for short term and recurrent employment situations in appropriate sectors;
(ii) Modernization of the labour market needs test requirement;
(iii) Additional conditions for the grant of an employment permit - such as training or accommodation support for migrant workers in some circumstances or making innovation or upskilling a condition of grant - where this may decrease future reliance on economic migration.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting – December Deadline
Upcoming Deadline for Legal Compliance
Employers with 250 or more employees on the June 2022 snapshot date were required to publish their gender pay gap reports over the course of December 2022, based on the June "snapshot" date they selected. In compiling their first report in-scope employers were required to publish information about the following:
• The mean and median gap in hourly pay between male and female employees
• The mean and median gap in hourly pay of part-time male and female employees
• The mean and median gap in hourly pay between male and female employees on temporary contracts
• The mean and median gap in bonus pay between male and female employees
• The percentage of male and female employees who received bonus pay;
• The percentage of male and female employees who received benefits in kind
• The percentage of male and female employees in each quartile pay band
Critically, such employers were also required to publish reasons for any differences and measures being taken (or proposed to be taken) to eliminate or reduce those differences.
While the reporting obligation initially only applied to organizations with 250 or more employees, this will reduce to 150 or more employees after two years, and 50 or more employee after three years.
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