1 . Do I have a legal right to work part-time? (Or to any other form of flexible working?)
No. There is no legal entitlement for any employee to part time working arrangements. It is, along with job-sharing, work sharing, flexitime and flexi-place/teleworking, a type of arrangement which may help the employee reconcile work and family life while at the same time contributing to the effective and efficient operation of the enterprise. Arrangements may already be in place in your workplace. If not, it may be possible to start discussions with your employer about introducing new or additional arrangements. Trade unions can assist in the negotiation of arrangements. The National Framework Committee for Work Life Balance does not attempt to impose any single measure or model of non-statutory Work Life Balance policy or practice. ICTU, IBEC and Public Sector employers are committed to the development of Work Life Balance workplaces and will encourage and support the development of such workplaces in every practical way. There are many examples of Work Life Balance work practices and policies to choose from, depending on the needs of both employees and employers, with some arrangements being more appropriate than others, depending on the circumstances.The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 provides minimum legally enforceable entitlements for all employees to holidays and public holidays. See Guide to Labour Law for further information.
Annual Leave:
All employees,
regardless of status or employment service, have an entitlement to paid holidays
from their employer based on time worked.
The minimum holiday entitlement for an employee, who works at least 1,365 hours per year, is 4 working weeks.
If an employee works less than 1,365 hours per year, the entitlement to paid holidays is calculated at 8% of the hours worked, subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks.
Public Holidays:
Employees,
other than part-time/casual employees, are entitled to public holiday benefits.
There are nine 9 public holidays as follows:
- Christmas Day,
- St. Stephen's Day,
- St. Patrick's Day,
- Easter Monday,
- First Monday in May,
- First Monday in June
- First Monday in August
- Last Monday in October, and
- 1st of January.
Part-time/casual employees must have worked 40 hours in the
5 weeks that end on the day before the particular public holiday, in order to
qualify for that public holiday.
When an employee is
entitled to public holiday benefit such an employee is entitled to whichever of
the following that is determined by the employer:
- a paid day off on that day
- a paid day off within a month of that day
- an additional day of annual leave
- an additional day's pay.
More detailed information on holiday and public holiday entitlements may be obtained by contacting the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) on 0599178990 or Lo-call 1890 808090 or from the NERA website.
3 . What are my entitlements under the Maternity Protection Act?
The Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2004 entitle a pregnant employee to
26 consecutive weeks maternity leave. If a woman takes maternity leave, she must
take a minimum of 2 weeks leave before the last day of her expected week of
confinement. She must also take a minimum of four weeks leave after the last
day of her expected week of confinement. In addition to maternity leave and
additional maternity leave, the Acts also cover a range of issues including:
time off for ante-natal and postnatal medical visits; the right to return to
work All employees who have taken maternity leave are entitled to take
an additional 16 weeks of unpaid maternity leave. This is
also known as 'unpaid leave'. This leave must commence immediately after
maternity leave has ended. In order to avail of additional maternity leave, a
woman must notify her employer in writing a minimum of four weeks before the
additional maternity leave is due to commence. Available from the Equality
Authority is a brochure outlining entitlements under the Acts - About the
Maternity Protection Acts, 1994 and 2004. The full text of this brochure can be
downloaded from the Equality Authority's website : click
here. Alternatively you can contact the Equality Authority or email
info@equality.ie, write
to the Equality Authority, Clonmel Street, Dublin 2 or by telephone on 01- 417
3333
4 . What are my entitlements under the Parental Leave Acts 1998 and 2006?
The Parental Leave Acts, 1998 and 2006 have
two main purposes - (a) to provide for an entitlement for men and women to avail
of unpaid leave from employment to enable them to take care of their young
children. (b) To provide for limited paid leave (force majeure leave) to enable
employees to deal with emergencies resulting from injury or illness of
certain people. (The Acts provide that employees are entitled to force majeure
leave provided it does not exceed 3 days in any 12 consecutive months, or 5 days
in any 36 consecutive months.) Each parent is entitled to 14 weeks parental
leave for each child to be taken before that child reaches 8 years of age; 16
years in the case of children with disabilities. In general, the employee must
have at least one year's continuous service with the employer before s/he is
entitled to take parental leave. However, where the child is approaching the age
threshold and the employee has more than three months but less than one year's
service with the employer, s/he is entitled to pro rata parental leave. Each
parent has a separate entitlement to parental leave from his or her
job. For further information about the Parental Leave Acts, a brochure
outlining entitlements under the Acts - About the Parental Leave Act, 1998 is
available from the Equality Authority. The full text of this brochure can be
downloaded from the Equality Authority's website : click here. Alternatively you
can contact the Equality Authority by email
info@equality.ie or write to the Equality
Authority, Clonmel Street, Dublin 2 or by telephone on 01-417 3333
5 . What are my rights to paternity leave?
In Ireland, there are no legislative or statutory entitlements for fathers to paid paternity leave. Some companies may provide 1-3 days paid leave for fathers. Consult your employer or trade union for information in relation to any provision in your employment. Both parents are legally entitled to unpaid Parental Leave (see question on Parental Leave above).6. A member of my family is in need of full - time care and attention. I am an employee and may have to give up work to look after the person. I heard about carer's leave. Would this apply to my situation ?
The Carer's Leave Act 2001 , came into operation on 2nd July,2001. The main purpose of this Act is to provide for a new entitlement for an employee to avail of temporary unpaid leave from his/her employment to enable him/her to personally provide full - time care and attention for a person who is in need of such care. The period of leave to which an employee is entitled is subject to a maximum of 104 weeks in respect of any one care recipient.
- The minimum statutory entitlement is 13 weeks. An employee who wishes to avail of Carer's Leave must fulfil certain conditions:
- The employee must have a minimum of 12 months continuous service (at date of commencement of leave) with the employer form whose employment the employee proposes to take Carer's Leave.
- The person in respect of whom the employee proposes to provide full - time care and attention will require to be medically certified (by the Department of Social Protection ) as requiring full - time care and attention.
- A decision to this effect must be given to the employer before the Carer's Leave commences.
To apply for the decision, an employee should obtain Department of Social Protection Form CARB1 form Carer's Benefit Section of that Department and arrange for its completion and return to the afore - mentioned Carer's Benefit Section. This will need to be done irrespective of whether the employee will be applying for the associated Carer's Benefit Scheme payment or not.
If the employee is also applying for Carer's Benefit payment, then the same medical assessment will apply for both Carer's Leave and Carer's Benefit. During the period of Carer's Leave the employee must provide the full - time care and attention to the person being cared for. However, the employee will be allowed engage in * limited employment, self-employment, education/training outside the home for up to * 15 hours per week.
During the employee's absence in the above circumstances, adequate care for the relevant person must be arranged. * Subject to an upper income limit as set out in regulations made by the Minister for Social Protection. For further information on Carer's Leave Act and to download a copy of the Explanatory Booklet, Please see the Dept of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation website - http://www.entemp.ie/employment/compliance/Amended%20Carers%20Leave%20Act%202001.pdf (this contains the main provisions of the Act in word format) or contact the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) on 0599178990 or Lo-call 1890 808090.
Employees who wish to find out about the Carer's Benefit Scheme should contact the Carer's Benefit Section of the Department of Social Protection in Longford at 043-45211. Please note that the Carer's Benfit Explanatory Booklet (SW 49) and application form are available on the Department of Social Protection website - http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Publications/SW49/Pages/1WhatisCarersBenefit.aspx
