Managing Annual Leave & Public Holidays
These topics create some confusion amongst employers, this blog post will hopefully line out any confusion that employers may have.
What is a public holiday?
A public holiday is nationally recognised day when most businesses and other institutions are closed. They usually occur on a special day or event. For example, St Patrick's Day and Christmas Day.
In 2022 we were introduced to a new once off public holiday that will take place on Friday, 18th of March. From 2023 there will be a new annual public holiday in February to celebrate St Brigid’s Day, it will happen on the first Monday in February.
When are the public holidays?
• New Year’s Day
• First Monday in February, or 1st of February if the date falls on a Friday (2023 onwards)
• Saint Patrick’s Day
• Once off public holiday (18th March 2022 only)
• Easter Monday
• First Monday in May
• First Monday in June
• First Monday in August
• Last Monday in October
• Christmas Day
• St Stephens Day
What are employees entitled to?
Most employees are entitled to a day paid leave on public holidays. There is an exception for certain part-time employees.
If you qualify for public holiday benefit, you are entitled to:
• A paid day off on the public holiday
• An additional day of annual leave
• An additional day’s pay
• A paid day off within a month of the public holiday
Part time employees are entitled to a day’s pay for the public holiday if they meet the following requirements:
• You have worked for your employer at least 40 hours in the 5 weeks before the public holiday
• The public holiday falls on the day you normally work
If you are required to work on the day the public holiday falls you are entitled to an additional day’s pay. If you do not work on the day, you should get one fifth of your weekly pay.
Annual Leave
We all know that employers are obliged to provide paid annual leave under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997. This act applies to all employees working under a contract of employment.
The amount of holidays an employee receives is calculated by the amount of work the employee does in the leave year.
If an employee works 1365 hours in a leave year they will be entitled to 4 normal working weeks of annual leave.
To calculate annual leave for employees who have worked less than 1365 hours in the annual leave year, they receive one-third of a week for each month that 117 hours are worked or 8% of the hours worked up to a maximum of 4 working weeks.
Accrual of Annual Leave
Employees will begin to accrue annual leave from the first date of employment.
Accrued from hours:
- Physically and notionally worked
- All time on certified sick leave
- Time worked on public holidays
- Annual leave itself
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Managing Covid-19 in the Workplace
With the cases of Covid-19 still on the rise, it’s important that your employees are safe at work.
The Work Safety Protocol which has been in place since the 31st of January 2022 is still fully applicable in all workplaces. As of now, there are no plans in place to update the document. All companies should have a Covid-19 response plan.
You are probably wondering what type of information you should provide to employees on how to manage symptoms, cases and contacts. Employees should be directed to the general Covid-19 information on the HSE website.
Employees that are displaying cold and hay fever symptoms and are reluctant to attend the workplace should not attend the workplace. They should be directed to the HSE website and asked to comply with the public health requirements.
The current advice is that if you are showing symptoms, even mild ones you should:
• self-isolate (stay in your room) until 48 hours after your symptoms are mostly or fully gone
• wear a face mask if you have to be around other people#
This applies even if you completed your first round of Covid-19 vaccination, had a booster or had Covid-19 in the past.
Displaying Symptoms in the Workplace
If an employee is displaying symptoms of Covid-19 in the workplace the person should be moved to a designated isolation area and provided with a suitable face covering in order to minimize the risk of transmission.
Distinguishing between Covid-19 and Hay fever symptoms
Employees who suffer from hay fever are usually familiar with the symptoms. If in doubt they should follow public health advice and not attend the workplace until 48 hours after their symptoms are mostly or fully gone.
Managing Close Contacts in the Workplace
The advice around close contacts has changed. If an employee thinks they have been in close contact with someone who has Covid-19, they do not need to restrict movements or self-isolate. They should:
Watch out for symptoms of Covid-19 - it can take up to 14 days after you are infected for symptoms to show.
Take extra care to follow the advice on protecting others from Covid-19, in case you have the virus.
Testing Positive
All confirmed cases should self-isolate for a full 7 days from the date of onset symptoms or is asymptomatic, from the date of a positive test result.
Reporting Outbreaks
There is no longer a requirement to report an outbreak to the HSE.
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Parent's Leave & Benefit Act 2019
The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 came into effect on the 1st of November 2019. From July 2022 this Act provides for 7 weeks parent’s leave with protection of employment for a relevant parent in respect of a child born or adopted on or after the 1st of November 2019. The purpose of the Act is to enable the relevant parent to provide, or assist in the provision of, care to the child.
This leave can be taken within 24 months, up to a child's second birthday or within two years following adoption. Parents can take 7 weeks together or take separate weeks of leave. Whilst parent’s leave is available to both parents, it is not possible for parents to transfer leave to the other parent, except in the unfortunate circumstances where one of the parents dies. While on parent’s leave an employee will normally be entitled to statutory parent’s leave pay, depending on meeting certain PRSI eligibility criteria.
Employees wishing to take parent's leave must notify the employer in writing, giving at least 6 weeks’ notice of their intention to take the leave. They should state the expected start date for the leave and how they intend to take the leave – either five weeks together or separate weeks of leave.
Employees may be required to provide a medical certificate confirming the pregnancy and expected date of birth, or a copy of the birth certificate for the child. In the case of adoptions, a certificate confirming eligibility for adoption will be required.
Paid parent’s leave can be taken in addition to existing Maternity Leave, Adoptive Leave, Paternity Leave and Parental Leave rights, as applicable to each "relevant" parent.
Something important to note is that the employer may postpone a request to take parent's leave by up to 12 weeks, in cases where it is felt that by granting the leave request there would be an adverse effect on the business. Before postponing any request, the employer will consult with the employee.
Once a decision has been made to postpone, the employer will provide the employee with written confirmation that the leave is being postponed giving 4 weeks’ notice before the intended commencement date. The confirmation will set out the grounds for the postponement. The employer will only be permitted to postpone the leave on one occasion.
During parent’s leave the employees employment rights are preserved, and annual leave will continue to accrue. The employer reserves the right to refuse time-off to employees where there is non-compliance with this procedure, and any such non-compliance may be dealt with under the Disciplinary Procedure.
Parent's Leave & Maternity Leave
However if any employee requires to take all or any of the 16 weeks unpaid maternity leave, that leave must be taken directly after the paid maternity ends. Again the employee does not have to take the full 16 weeks unpaid, they can move directly to Parents Benefit after paid Maternity ends, they can take any number of weeks of the unpaid maternity leave that they require and after availing of the weeks they require under that entitlement either return to work or move to Parents Benefit.
So how must an employee notify their employer of their intention to take maternity leave?
At least 4 weeks before the commencement of maternity leave stating the date on which the leave is due to commence.
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Legislation Updates June 2022
This month has been quite busy with legislation updates from the Government, read this blog post to find out the most recent updates from this month.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
On the 3rd of June the Gender Pay Gap regulations were published. Employers with 250+ employees on the snapshot date (chosen by the employer) will have to report on the 12-month period preceding and including the chosen snapshot date on the mirror date in December 2022. In 2024 this will extend to employers of 150+ and in 2025 it will extend to 50+ employees.
To approach the calculation of their gender pay gap metrics, organisations must do the following:
- Choose the snapshot date in June 2022
- The reporting deadline is 6 months after the snapshot date, in December 2022.
- The reporting period is the 12-month period immediately preceding and including the snapshot date
For example: if the organization chooses Tuesday 25th of June as their snapshot date. Its reporting deadline is 25th December, and the reporting period is 24th June 2021 to 25th June 2022.
Statutory Sick Leave Bill 2022
The Statutory Sick Leave Bill has passed the 2nd stage in the Seanad. It is suppose to be in enacted by September 2022.
Read more here: Preparing for New Sick Pay Rules
Work-Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill
The Government has approved the drafting of the Work-Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to increase the participation of women in the labor market and the take-up of family-related leave and flexible working arrangements.
Read more here: The EU Work-Life Balance Directive Ireland
Parent's Leave and Benefits Act
Lastly, The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019, which was introduced on the 1st of November 2019, currently provides for 5 weeks of Parent’s Leave for each parent to allow them time off around the birth or adoption of their child or the child of their spouse or partner. Parent’s leave and benefits will increase from 5 to 7 weeks in July.
Hiring Young People in Ireland
Young employees are people aged 14 to 18, who work for an employer. As young workers are generally in full-time education, they are protected by a different employment law than adult workers. This is to make sure their work does not put their health or education at risk.
Restrictions on Employing 14 & 15 Year-Olds
By law, children ages 14 and 15 cannot be employed in regular full-time jobs.
However, they can:
- Do light work during the school holidays
- Take part in an approved work experience or educational program
- Work in film, culture, advertising, or sport
Working Hours for 14 & 15 Year-Olds
Outside school term time
Can work a maximum of 35 hours a week or up to 40 hours if they are on approved work experience.
During school term time
Children aged 14 are not allowed work during school time. Children aged 15 can do 8 hours of light work a week.
Restrictions on Employing 16 & 17 Year-Olds
Young people aged 16 and 17 can work a maximum of 8 hours a day, up to 40 hours a week.
Young people are only allowed to work between 6 am and 10 pm.
Paying Young Employees
All employees have a right to get a payslip. A payslip is a written statement from the employer that explains your total pay before tax, and all details of any deductions from pay.
Minimum Wage
Since 1 January 2022, the national minimum wage is €10.50 per hour. However, not everyone is automatically entitled to get this.
Aged 20 and over- €10.50 an hour
Under18 - €7.35
Aged 18 - €8.40
Aged 19 - €9.45
Your employer can pay you more than the minimum wage if they want, but they are not required to by law.
Employers’ Responsibilities
Employers must keep records for every employee under 18, including:
- The employee’s full name
- The employee’s date of birth
- The employee’s starting and finishing times for work
- The wage rate and total wages paid to the employee
The employer must keep these records for at least 3 years.
Employers must also give employees aged under 18 a copy of the official summary of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, and other details of their terms of employment within one month of taking up a job.
Employers with employees under 18 must also display the official summary of the Act in their workplace, where it can easily be read by staff.
Breaches of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act
Employers who are found guilty of an offense under the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act can be fined up to €1,904.61 and an extra €317.43 a day for a continuing offence.
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Employee Inductions: The Complete Guide
Employee Inductions: The Complete Guide
Workplace induction is the process of getting new employees familiar with your business. This includes helping them get comfortable with their new jobs and providing them with information to make them valuable team members. Research suggests that induction programmes benefit both employers and employees.
A good induction program sets the tone and expectations for employees. It also details their relationship with managers and the organisation. It helps new employees know the purpose, functions, and tasks of their job.
Topics to Cover During Induction
Usually, managers and supervisors are responsible for handling workplace induction. Induction training needs to include practical information that immerses the employee into the company culture. Meeting new colleagues and getting familiar with the workplace are essential. Everybody wants to feel welcomed and secure on their first day.
Heath and Workplace Safety
Learning health and safety procedures on the first day is necessary. This includes going over any specific safe work procedures your company has.
Documents and Policies
During induction make sure each employee fills out and signs all necessary employment paperwork. You should also help employees understand the incident reporting system at your company. A strong understanding of workplace procedures allows new employees to be the most dependable team members from the beginning.
Benefits of an effective induction programme
A well-designed induction programme results in a positive first experience of an orgaisation. It means the employee:
- Settles in quickly
- Integrates into their team
- Understands the oganisation’s values and culture
- Feels supported
- Becomes productive quickly
- Works to their highest potential
Without an effective induction, new employees can get off to a bad start, and lack clarity on their role and how it links to the organisation’s goals, which could impact on their intention to stay in the role.
What to avoid in Induction
- Providing too much, too soon - the inductee must not be overwhelmed by a mass of information, especially on the first day.
- Pitching presentations at an inappropriate level - where possible, presentations should be tailored to consider prior knowledge of new employees.
- Creating an induction programme which generates unreasonable expectations by overselling the job.
- Creating an induction programme that focuses only on administration and compliance but does not reflect organisational values.
An effective induction programme should be engaging and reassure the new employee that they have made the right decision to join the business.
The induction process should be evaluated to determine whether it is meeting the needs of the new recruits and the organisation. This should include opportunities for feedback at the end of the induction process and allow new recruits to highlight areas for improvement.
As well as getting feedback from new employees, it is important to identify key measures of success of the induction process.
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How to Prevent Discrimination in the Workplace
Workplace discrimination is based on certain prejudices and occurs when an employee is treated unfavourably because of gender, sexuality, race, religion, pregnancy, or disability. Discrimination generally falls into two principal categories, known as direct and indirect discrimination.
Direct Discrimination
Direct discrimination occurs when one individual receives less favourable treatment than another based on one or more of the nine grounds set out in the employment equality legislation. If a woman is paid less than a man to do the same job for no reason other than being a woman, this would represent direct discrimination.
Indirect Discrimination
Indirect discrimination occurs when neutral requirements unjustly disadvantage a certain category of persons. An example of this may be requiring candidates for a manual labour position to have fluent English. This would put Irish nationals in a better position to secure the position over foreign nationals.
Discrimination by Association
Discrimination by association occurs when a person is treated less favourably based on their association with a person protected by one of the nine grounds. If someone is experiencing harassment at work because they are in a relationship outside work with a foreign national this would represent discrimination by association.
Discrimination by Imputation
If an employee is incorrectly identified as belonging to one of the categories of a person described under the nine grounds and receives less favourable treatment than colleagues this will amount to discrimination by imputation. If it is incorrectly assumed that an employee has a certain religious belief and that employee is treated less favourably on this basis this will be discrimination by imputation.
It's important to know that discrimination is carried out by individuals. Your organisation is liable for any actions carried out by an employee in the course of their employment. It is important to take action to reduce the possibility that any discriminatory action occurs.
As part of the action plan to reduce the risk of discrimination occurring within your organisation, you should ensure that all employees:
- Understand that the organisation is committed to preventing all forms of discrimination
- Are aware of and understand their roles and responsibilities with respect to promoting equality and diversity
- Know how to seek advice and make a complaint in respect of discrimination
- Are confident that the employer will treat any complaint seriously and that it will be dealt with promptly and fairly
- Understand that any incident of discrimination will be viewed as a serious disciplinary matter
- Understand the types of behaviour that will be regarded as discrimination.
Providing Training
You should ensure that all managers and supervisors undertake training in ensuring that the workplace remains discrimination-free. Equality training should not be confined to management-level employees. Training, information and skills development in relation to equality should be provided to staff at all levels throughout the organisation. All such training should be structured so that it is accessible to all employees.
- You can communicate on equality issues through:
- Induction training
- Tailored in-house awareness training programmes
- Employee briefings
- Staff representatives
- Information on staff notice boards
- In-house magazine articles
- The staff handbook and policy manual
- Line manager and employee guides
It is important that there is action taken to ensure that discrimination is not in the workplace.
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Upcoming changes to the Whistleblowing Legislation
Whistleblowing is formally known as ‘making a protected disclosure’. The law protects employees who raise concerns about possible wrongdoing in the workplace. You are also protected if you are dismissed or penalized for reporting possible wrongdoing.
The Protected Disclosures Act 2014, provides protection from penalization for workers in all sectors who make a protected disclosure, otherwise known as whistleblowing. This includes protection against being dismissed, demoted, denial of access to promotion, etc. The Protected Disclosures Act 2014 was amended by the EU (Protection of Trade Secrets) Regulations 2018 which introduce a public interest requirement for protected disclosures that contain trade secrets.
With the Act being one of the most robust whistle-blowers acts in Europe, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 must be strengthened to give effect to the EU Whistleblowing Directive. In February, the Government published the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Bill 2022, which will transpose the “EU Whistle-blower Directive”.
The EU Whistle-blower Directive was originally intended to have been implemented in Ireland by 17 December 2021. Nevertheless, this legislation is still undoing the legislative process and is expected to take effect later this year.
The amended law will make it mandatory for all public sector organisations and all private-sector employers with 50 or more employees to establish and maintain internal reporting channels and procedures for employers to make protected disclosures.
In addition, the amendment to this legislation will expand the definition of relevant wrongdoing, reverse the burden of proof in alleged penalisation claims, and expands the forms of punishment that employees may seek interim relief from other than dismissal. Every organisation will be required to have a designated person who acknowledges, provides feedback, and handles complaints in accordance with the strict timeline. Punishment in certain cases will now carry criminal penalties, including If the confidentiality of the identity of a reporting person is breached.
These laws will initially apply to all public sector organisations and private sector organisations with 250 or more employees as of this spring. From 17th December 2023, private sector organisations with 50 or more employees will have to comply, although the Bill allows the Minister to reduce the threshold below 50 for certain classes of employers.
Whistle-blowing policies should be reviewed and updated now by employers, especially those within the private sector, ahead of the upcoming introduction of the enhanced regime.
How to Handle Employee Resignations
When an employee resigns the employee will usually give full contractual notice of their resignation. However, an employee sometimes resigns in the heat of the moment. Regardless of the situation, you need to handle the situation properly.
What is Resignation?
Resignation is when an employee informs their employer that they’re quitting. The employment relationships can end in various ways, including:
- An employee gives you their notice of resignation by speaking with you or handing in a letter of resignation
- If your business ends the contract of employment
- When an employee reaches justifiable retirement age.
Once an employee has notified you of their intention to resign, they must complete a notice period. The length of this notice period can be found in the employee’s contract of employment.
During this period you can begin to search to find a replacement for the role.
Notice Periods in Ireland
Notice periods in Ireland vary by each employee’s employment contract. The employee’s length of service is also taken into account. However, there are two common types of notice to keep in mind:
Contractual notice: You can decide the amount of contractual notice an employee must give. For example, two months’ notice may be required for an employee who has worked with your business for two years.
Statutory notice: This is the length of notice an employee is legally required to give. This will depend on their length of service.
If an employee has worked with your business for at least 13 weeks, they must give you at least one week’s notice.
What to do when an employee resigns?
When an employee decides to resign, it is natural that you may try to convince them to stay. If instead, you accept the resignation, there are some key steps to follow:
Get the resignation in writing
Written confirmation of the resignation must include the employee’s name, the date, and a signature.
Respond to the resignation
Acknowledge your acceptance of the resignation. This can be a written or verbal response.
Prepare a handover pack
A handover pack can come in handy for when the departing employee’s replacement starts
Conduct an exit interview
An exit interview will give you the opportunity to understand the employee’s reasons for resignation. This is also a good chance to listen to feedback for further improvements.
Retrieve business property
Make sure to retrieve any business property from the departing employees. These items can include computers, devices, uniforms, etc.
Lastly, remember to end the professional relationship on a positive note. You never know but the departing employee may wish to return to the company in the future.
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Gender Pay Gap Reporting in Ireland
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, and Youth has finally published some details on how employers will have to calculate their gender pay gap statistics.
What will employers have to do?
Employers will have to report:
Mean and median pay gaps
Mean and median bonus gaps
The proportion of men and women that receive bonuses
The proportion of men and women that received benefits in kind
The proportion of men and women in each of four equally sized quartiles.
Employers must calculate these statistics for their employees using a snapshot date of their choice in June 2022 and using data from the preceding 12 months.
What is the gender pay gap reporting guidance?
If you are familiar with UK gender pay gap reporting, the Irish legislators have been heavily inspired by the UK regulations.
- Bonuses will include “payments in the form of money, vouchers, securities options, or interests in securities, or, which relate to profit sharing, productivity, performance, incentive or commission”
- Hours are defined very similarly. Employers must use the contracted hours (i.e., for salaried employees), a figure derived from a 12-week average for those with variable hours or some other figure that the employer selects. However, employers can also explicitly use the total number of actual hours worked (i.e., for waged employees where this is recorded).
- Employers must prorate bonuses. Any bonuses paid must be prorated so that the amount included is proportional to the pay period. In the UK, this means taking one-twelfth of an annual bonus payment
These regulations will only apply to employers with 250 or more employees in the first two years after their introduction. In the third year, the requirements will also apply to employers with 150 or more employees. Thereafter, the requirements will apply to employers with 50 or more employees. The regulations will not apply to employers with fewer than 50 employees.
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