Draft Legislation to Protect Atypical Workers

Ireland is one of Europe’s most heavily regulated employment law jurisdictions. Employees enjoy a wide range of protections under employment legislation which are upheld by the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court. The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 (the Bill) aims to add further employee protections by improving the security and predictability of working hours for employees working on insecure contracts or variable hours. Origin of the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017 The Bill originated as part of the Programme for a Partnership Government which includes a stated ambition to create a “Social Economy”. The increasing casualization of work practices and growth of the gig economy led to calls to increase regulation of the employment of low-paid, vulnerable workers. The Bill was drafted in response to the publication by the University of Limerick of a study on zero-hour and low-hours contracts, as well as extensive public consultation processes and in-depth discussions with unions and employers’ bodies. Notable features of the Bill The key objective of the Bill is to improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts, and those working variable hours. The Bill addresses the following five key areas which have been identified as employment law lacunas that should be strengthened in favour of employees, without imposing unnecessarily onerous burdens on employers: -

• ensuring that employees are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements and in particular their core terms at an early stage of their employment. A new offence is being created where employers fail to comply with the new information requirements
• strengthening the provisions around minimum payments to low-paid, vulnerable employees who may be called into work for a period but not provided with that work
• prohibiting zero hour contracts, except in limited circumstances
• ensuring that employees on low hour contracts who consistently work more hours each week than provided for in their contracts are entitled to be placed in a band of hours that better reflects the reality of the hours they have worked on a consistent basis over an extended period
• strengthening the anti-penalisation provisions for employees who invoke or try to invoke a right under these proposals.

The Bill proposes achieving its aims through appropriate amendments to the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997. Progress of the Bill The Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection recently announced that the Bill cleared the Committee Stage in the Dáil. We will provide further updates as the Bill continues to progress through the legislative process in the Dáil and the Seanad. To learn more about the risks of employing atypical employees please call our 24-hour advice line on 0818 923 923 to speak our friendly advisors