Employment

Parents are set to be given an additional three weeks of paid parent's leave under plans agreed by ministers yesterday. New legislation to be introduced next year will expand the current entitlement for two weeks of paid parent's leave under the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019.

The suspension of laws allowing employees to demand redundancy after a certain length of temporary lay-off has been extended until the end of March 2021. The move is intended to help avoid further permanent job losses at a time when some 350,000 people are in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Pay

Plans to introduce a statutory sick pay scheme in Ireland by the end of 2021 have moved forward with the launch of a government consultation on how such a scheme could work. There is currently no legal obligation on Irish employers to pay workers during periods of illness. Statutory sick pay introdu

A ban on over-35s applying to become gardaí is discriminatory and unlawful, the Workplace Relations Commission has ruled. Two men who were refused entry to An Garda Síochána on the basis of their age challenged the relevant regulations with support from the Irish Human Rights an

Andrew Desmond, associate at William Fry, examines a recent investigation by the Data Protection Commission (DPC). The Data Protection Commission has found a security system used in Irish prisons to be in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after investigating a complaint by a pr

Restrictions on asylum seekers' access to the labour market in Ireland are set to be eased under new legislation, Justice Minister Helen McEntee has announced. The Department of Justice recently completed a review of the regime introduced in 2018 after the Supreme Court struck down the unconstitutio

HR professionals do not expect their workplaces to fully re-open until after April 2021, according to a new survey conducted by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP. The law firm surveyed nearly 300 HR professionals who participated in a recent webinar on key issues for HR teams as organisations continue to

Lisa Bryson, partner and head of employment at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, highlights the importance of the successor to the Covid-19 furlough scheme. Six months on from the Chancellor’s first major intervention through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), Covid-19 is on the resur

New employment supports set to be introduced by the UK government following the end of the furlough scheme are not sufficient to avoid mass redundancies and significant hardship, Law Centre NI has said. The new Job Support Scheme will run for six months from 1 November 2020, but will only support so

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates considers the impact on Irish employers of a mandatory sick pay scheme. This issue has been around for some time. It will be interesting to see what is going to happen in relation to this. The reason we are mentioning this is

DLA Piper has urged Irish employers to take a "proactive approach" to their employees' mental wellbeing as Ireland slowly begins reopening society and business. The global law firm has published a new report on mental health in the workplace, covering a range of topics including the legal aspects of

Workers in Northern Ireland who are laid off while furloughed will receive redundancy pay based on their normal wages under changes welcomed by employment lawyers. The new law, announced by Economy Minister Diane Dodds yesterday, will bring Northern Ireland in line with changes made in the rest of t

Proposals to reform trade union legislation in Northern Ireland for the first time since devolution have gone out to consultation. The Trade Union Freedom Bill, brought forward by People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll, aims to "allow trade unions to strike more efficiently and effectively".

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates considers redundancy law where an employee moves from one part of a group of companies to another. In case RPD197, being a case of Anita Olejniczak and Glenbeigh Fire & Flood Limited, the issue arose as to whether or not

Workers in Northern Ireland who are laid off while furloughed will receive redundancy pay based on their normal wage under new laws being brought in next month. A spokesperson for the Department for the Economy (DfE) confirmed to Irish Legal News today that the changes being brought into effect in E