Employment Law Update December 2019 Laura Murphy Nicola Sheridan - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

10/12/2019 1

Employment Law Update

December 2019

The webinar will begin shortly…

Laura Murphy

HR Manager at Thesaurus

Nicola Sheridan

Employment Specialist at Thesaurus

Employment Law Update 2019

Q&A Rec

Q&A Session Type into Questions box on your screen On Demand This session is being recorded

2019 2020 Employment Law a Review Surviving Christmas

Agenda

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What was new in 2019…..

• Parent’s leave
• Parental leave policy changes
• Sectoral Employment Orders
• Key case law findings
• Terms of Employment Law Recap
• WRC
• Record Keeping
• 1.Leave options for Parents

Parent’s Leave

• 1st November 2019
• 2 weeks paid leave in the child’s first year
• Statutory payment – currently €245 per week
• Taken as a 2 week block or 2 separate 1 week blocks

What employers need to do:

• Add a Parent’s Leave Policy to your Employee Handbook

Parental Leave

Pre September 2019 From 1 September 2019 From 1 September 2020 Weeks Leave 18 22 26 Availability up until 8th Birthday 12th Birthday 12th Birthday Children with disabilities 16th Birthday 16th Birthday 16th Birthday

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Entitlement to Parental Leave

• 1 Years service
• Be a ‘relevant’ parent
• Availability - per parent not per child
• Give at least 6 weeks notice in writing
• Annual leave entitlement is not impacted
• Multiple children, capped at 18 weeks per year
• Pro-rata for part-time workers
• Can postpone leave for for a max. of 6 months
• Minimum periods apply / flexible working
• Records kept for 12 years
• 2. Sectoral Employment Orders

Electrical Sector

Minimum Wage Rates Category 1 €23.49 Category 2 €23.96 Category 3 €24.34 Apprentice Minimum Wage Year 1 €7.05 Year 2 €10.57 Year 3 €15.27 Year 4 €18.80

Construction Sector

Category of Worker Rates applying for the period from 1 October 2019 to 30 September 2020 Rates applying from 1 October 2020 A Craftsperson €19.44 per hour (the ‘Craft Rate’) €19.96 per hour (the ‘2020 Craft Rate’) Category A Worker €18.86 per hour (this rate is unchanged from the 2017 Order) €19.37 per hour Category B Worker €17.50 per hour (this rate is unchanged from the 2017 Order) €17.97 per hour Apprentice One third of the Craft Rate and rising to 90% of the Craft Rate in the fourth year One third of the 2020 Craft Rate and rising to 90% of the 2020 Craft Rate in the fourth year New Entrant Operative Workers €14.14 per hour (provided that the New Entrant is over the age

• f 18 years and entering the

sector for the first time) €14.52 per hour (same conditions apply to New Entrants)

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• 2019 Legal Cases

Can an employee have legal representation at a disciplinary hearing?

The Case: Irish Rail v Barry McKelvey Decided by: Supreme Court What we can take from these cases:

• Legal representation only permitted in exceptional circumstances
• Dismissal is not considered exceptional

Who can attend?

• A colleague or a trade union representative
• Legal representation is not generally permitted
• Should be stated in the disciplinary procedure
• Be open to requests to be accompanied

Setting a compulsory retirement age

Case: John O'Brien v PPI Adhesive Plastics

• John took a case against his employer for being

made retire against his wishes

• Following an investigation, the WRC found the

company’s compulsory retirement age did not satisfy a legitimate aim or was objectively justifiable

• The WRC ordered PPI Adhesive Plastics to pay John

€35,000

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What employers should learn from this

• Ensure the retirement age can be objectively justified
• Don’t let your ability to rely on a legitimate aim be undermined by your

actions

• Before enforcing a retirement age, be clear what that age is
• An employee can work under a fixed-term contract
• WRC's Code of Practice on Longer Working
• Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions)

Act 2018

5 core terms within 5 days

• 1. The full name of employer and employee
• 2. The address of the employer
• 3. Temporary contract; the expected duration of the contract or the date of expiry
• 4. The rate of method of calculating pay and the pay reference period
• 5. What the employer reasonably expects to be the normal length of the working week

Terms & Conditions of Employment

• Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994

Name of Employer/Employee Rate, calculation & frequency of remuneration Address of Employer Reference to statement under minimum wage Place of work Paid leave Job Description/details Sick Pay Start date & duration Pension details Hours of work incl. overtime Notice on termination Rest periods and breaks Details of any collective agreements

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Failure to Comply

• Failure to comply can give rise to a criminal offence

Ø Fines of up to €5,000 Ø Imprisonment of up to 12 months

• Liability falls to anyone with responsibility

Anti-Penalisation

ØIt is an offence to penalize an employee exercising their rights ØCompensation of up to 4 weeks pay can be awarded

Zero Hours Contracts Banned Banded Hours

Grounds for Refusal:

• No evidence to support the employee’s

claim

• There have been significant adverse

changes to the business

• Due to exceptional circumstances, e.g.

emergency

• The average hours worked were affected

by a temporary situation

8 Bands

Band A: 3 to 6 hours Band B: 6 to 11 hours Band C: 11 to 16 hours Band D: 16 to 21 hours Band E: 21 to 26 hours Band F: 26 to 31 hours Band G: 31 to 36 hours Band H: Over 36 hours

• WRC Update

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Industrial Landscape

In the news

Nurses and Midwives HSE Support staff Ryanair Bus Eireann

WRC Claim Numbers 2016 14,400 complaints (15 months) 2017 14,001 complaints 2018 15,415 complains

WRC Stats

WRC Helpline Calls Answered 2017 50,000+ 2018 57,000+ Dispute resolution procedures Conciliation 1062 requests Mediation 81 requests Adjudication 5312 requests Workplace Inspections Inspections conducted Pay Recovered 2017 4,747 €1.77m 2018 5,753 €3.1M

WRC Inspections

• 50% breaches due to insufficient record keeping
• Our advice: be sure your employee records are up-to-date!
• Record Keeping

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Keeping your Records up-to-date

• 2020
• Employee Tips & Gratuities

Transparency for Tipping

• Contractual pay should not be paid using tips
• Tip policy should be clearly visible

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• Gender Pay Reporting

Gender Pay Gap Information Bill 2019

250+ Employees 50 + Employees

Information to be reported

• The mean and median gap in hourly pay between men and women.
• The mean and median gap in bonus pay between men and women.
• The mean and median gap in hourly pay of part-time male and female

employees.

• The percentage of men and of women who received bonus pay.
• The percentage of men and of women who received benefits in kind.

Equal Pay and Gender Pay Gap are different

Gender Pay Gap Equal Pay Men and Women doing the same job receiving the same pay The difference between men & women’s average pay across an

• rganisation

Current Gender Pay Gap

Gap in Europe Gap in Ireland 13.9% 16.7%

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Gender Pay Stats

• UK
• Ireland

McDonalds 0% BT 4.2% (women) British Airways 13% (Men) BBC 17.2% (Men) Barclays 44.1% (Men) Ryanair 66.6% (Men) An Post 3.7% (Men) The Central Bank 2.4% (Men)

• Parental Leave (again!)

September 2020 will see the parental leave entitlement increase again by a further 4 weeks, to 26 weeks

• Christmas 2020

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Bonus & Gift Cards

• Do you pay discretionary bonuses?
• Do you have a bonus policy in place?
• Beware of custom & practice

Have you considered?

• Small non-cash benefit
• Up to €500 per employee per year
• Can be ordered through Thesaurus Payroll Manager

Public Holidays & Annual Leave

Full-time employees

• A paid day off that day
• A paid day off within a month of that day
• An additional day of annual leave
• An additional days pay

Part-time employees

• If a public holiday falls on a day that a part-time employee usually works, they are

entitled to one of the benefits as listed above, if they have worked at least 40 hours in total in the 5 weeks prior to the public holiday.

• Where the public holiday falls on a day on which the employee does not normally

work, the employee is entitled to one fifth of his/her normal weekly wage.

The Christmas Party

Tips for employers to relax and enjoy the Christmas Season:

• Plan well: ensure everyone is included, use a venue accessible to all.
• Beforehand, remind staff of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour

and of any appropriate company policies (bullying and harassment policies & social media)

• Avoid offering a free bar. If providing alcohol, be sure to supply food
• Make sure staff get home safe.
• Don’t discuss work topics

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• Questions & Answers

www.brightcontracts.ie Email: Support@brightcontracts.ie

• Simply create staff contracts /

handbooks in minutes

• GDPR compliant staff policies &

procedures

• Automatic content updates
• Online HR database
• Links with Thesaurus &

BrightPay

• Bureau toolkit
• Free telephone & email support
• Secure and user-friendly way to

backup & restore payroll data

• Employee self-service app
• GDPR compliant
• Access to reports on the go
• Provides Bureaus with a multi-

company platform

• Free Connect access for 2019
• Free telephone & email support

www.thesaurus.ie/connect/ Email: connect@thesaurussoftware.com