The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 provides that an employer must issue their employees with a written statement of terms and conditions relating to their employment within two months of commencing employment.

Redundancy is where an employee’s position ceases to exist and the employee is not replaced. Any employee aged 16 or over with 104 weeks’ continuous service with an employer is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment in this situation.

The statutory redundancy payment is two week’s gross pay per year of service up to a ceiling of €600 per week plus one week’s pay, which is also subject to the ceiling of €600. This payment is tax-free.   

Working Hours

The maximum an employee should work in an average working week is 48 hours. This working week average should be calculated over a four-month period. There are however some exceptions to this average period.

Annual Leave and Public Holidays

All employees, full-time, part-time, temporary or casual earn annual leave entitlements from the time they start work. Most employees are entitled to four weeks’ paid annual leave per leave year.

Sick, Compassionate, & Other types of Leave from Work

Sick Leave

In general an employee has no right under employment law to be paid while on sick leave. Consequently, it is at the discretion of the employer to decide his/her own policy on sick pay and sick leave, subject to the employee’s contract or terms of employment.

Maternity Leave

If you become pregnant while in employment in Ireland, you are entitled to take maternity leave. The entitlement to a basic period of maternity leave from employment extends to all female employees in Ireland (including casual workers), regardless of how long you have been working for the organisation or the number of hours worked per week. Additional unpaid maternity leave is also available. The Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 provide your statutory minimum entitlements in relation to maternity at work including maternity leave.

 Parental leave entitles parents to take unpaid leave from work to spend time looking after their children. You can take up to 26 weeks’ parental leave for each eligible child before their 12th birthday. 

Unfair Dismissals
   
The Unfair Dismissals Acts enable employees who believe they have been unfairly dismissed to present a claim of unfair dismissal to either a Rights Commissioner or to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.       

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