Employment

Two-thirds of HR professionals believe that some employees will simply refuse to return to the workplace following the Covid-19 pandemic, a new survey by business law firm Mason Hayes & Curran LLP suggests. Over 200 HR professionals from both the public and private sectors were surveyed at a rec

Employment lawyers Richard Grogan and Natasha Hand consider a recent high-profile case in the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) concerning age discrimination. The issue of age discrimination issue arose in case ADJ-00027325, which has obtained a reasonable amount of publicity, where the employee

Barry Walsh, head of Fieldfisher Ireland's employment department, comments on a recent case involving disability discrimination. Employers are often asked by employees to provide references for future would-be employers or for internal promotion competitions. Many employers are reluctant to do so an

EU rules giving workers the right to "transparent and predictable" working conditions will be transposed into Irish law through primary legislation under plans now out for consultation. Ireland is required to transpose EU Directive 2019/1152 into Irish law by August 2022, though some of its provisio

Lisa Bryson, partner and head of employment at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, considers where employers in Northern Ireland stand in relation to the "return to the office". As we approach the autumn, minds will inevitably turn to the final quarter of 2021 and many will begin thinking about next ye

A prominent lawyer has warned employers to take care around mandatory retirement ages after a nurse was awarded €85,000 in compensation after being forced to retire at the age of 66. Richard Grogan, partner at Richard Grogan & Associates Solicitors in Dublin, told The Times that the "days o

Niall Pelly, partner and head of GQ|Littler in Dublin, considers what the remote working landscape will look like after the Covid-19 pandemic. The Irish government has recently announced that it plans to provide employees with the right to request remote working. As many employers turn their mind to

Lisa Bryson, partner and head of employment law at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, warns employers to be aware of the potential issues around vaccines. The issue of mandatory vaccines in the workplace has provoked lots of discussion, debate and concern. Tech giants Google and Facebook have told th

An increasing number of women are bringing cases to the Employment Tribunal which cite menopause as the reason for unfair dismissal and direct sex discrimination. New data show that there were five tribunals that detailed the claimant's menopause in 2018, six in 2019 and 16 in 2020. This year has al

An employer has been described as "incredibly stupid" by an employment law expert after the company used emojis to communicate important workplace issues. At the start of the pandemic in March 2020, a joinery manufacturing company was forced to shut down on a temporary basis and staff were offe

Three security companies have brought a High Court challenge aimed at setting aside a ministerial order that would see many working in the industry receive increased pay. The action is over the State's intention to bring in a new employment regulation order for the security industry, which was appro

A trainee solicitor who claimed that he was paid less than minimum wage during his traineeship has been awarded €24,155 in back pay. Imitiaz Ahmed raised a minimum wage action against his former employer, claiming that he worked up to 60 hours a week and was sometimes paid nothing at all.

New employment figures show a "positive momentum" for employment levels in Northern Ireland, an employment law expert has said. The June Labour Market Report for Northern Ireland was issued yesterday by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Published decisions from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) should be anonymised to protect both businesses and workers, a leading employment lawyer has said. TDs yesterday rejected a proposed amendment to the Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 which would have redacted t

The Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland has dismissed an appeal from the Department of Justice against a finding that it had discriminated against a female employee on the grounds of sex. The claimant alleged that she had been employed with the DOJ and had intermittently performed the functions of a