The changes to employment law since 4 March 2019 are to protect vulnerable employees and put more obligations on the employer.
Some of these new additional requirements include:
Minimum Information
The employee is to receive a minimum amount of information within 5 days of joining (commencement of employment):
• The name of the employer and employee;
• Address of the employer;
• The expected duration of the contract if it is a temporary contract;
• If it is a fixed term contract the date when the contract comes to an end;
• The rate of pay or how salary is calculated and the pay reference period;
• The hours of work per day and per week.
These requirements are in addition to the existing obligations under the Minimum Terms of Employment that must be provided to an employee within 2 months of joining.
Minimum Payment
If an employee does not work all of the contract hours in a week or work that the employee is required to do has been done by others then the employee will receive a minimum payment of the lesser of 25% of the hours or 15 hours.
This is a minimum payment and it is calculated at 3 times the national minimum hourly wage (currently €9.80 *3 = €29.40) or wage set by an employment regulation order.
This applies if an employee is engaged for a certain number of hours per week or to make himself available as and when the employer requires him to work.
There are some exceptions permitted for exceptional circumstances or an emergency or for unusual or unforeseeable circumstances where the minimum payment does not need to be paid.
Except for work of a casual nature or for an emergency or short-term relief work there is a prohibition on zero hours. It must be genuine casual work to be excluded in that the person can turn down the request to work without any consequences.
Banded Hours
If an employee’s contract does not reflect the actual hours worked for a 12 month period the employee can request to be placed in a band of weekly working hours for the next 12 months. The band is based on the average weekly hours worked.
Only in limited circumstances can the employer refuse the request.
An employee is protected against penalisation for seeking these rights.
Detailed legal advice should be taken to ensure that you correctly implement these new employment law requirements.
Contact us if you would like to discuss your additional obligations and rights.
Disclaimer
The material in this article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute legal or taxation advice. Specific legal and taxation advice should be sought before acting. All information and taxation rules are subject to change without notice.
No liability whatsoever is accepted by M. McLoughlin & Co. for any action taken or not taken in reliance on the information in this article