Government passes landmark employment law
The government last night passed one of the most significant pieces of employment legislation in a generation. The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017, (the Bill) will prohibit employers from using zero hour contracts and will impose criminal liability on employers who fail to comply with certain provisions of the new law.
Background to the Bill
The Bill is rooted in a process of extensive consultations with employer and employee bodies (including Chambers Ireland and Peninsula) and also draws on comprehensive academic research. Its key objective is to improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours.
The Bill is scheduled to come into effect from 4
th March 2019.
The Bill at a glance
- Criminal sanctions for employers who fail to give employees 5 basic terms of employment in writing within one month of employment commencing.
The Bill requires employers to provide the following five key terms of employment to employees within five days of employment commencing:
- The full name of the employer and employee
- The address of the employer
- The expected duration of the contract (where the contract is temporary or fixed-term)
- The rate or method of calculating pay
- What the employer reasonably expects the normal length of the employee’s working day and week will be.
Criminal sanctions including 12 months’ imprisonment on summary conviction have been confirmed for employers who breach the requirement to provide employees with the 5 core terms in writing within one month of employment commencing.
- Prohibition of zero hour contracts except in situations of genuine casual employment and where they are essential to allow employers to provide cover in emergency situations or to cover short-term
The number of hours of work provided to employees in a week must be greater than zero.
- A new minimum payment for employees who are not called into work on a certain week.
For example, if an employer called six people into work on a certain week and then decided only three were needed, the three employees not required to work that week would be entitled to 25% of their weekly contractual hours. The weekly payment must not be less than 3 x National Minimum Wage hourly rate or 3 x Employment Regulation Order hourly rate (where it applies). The same rule applies to employees who have been asked to work less than 25% of their weekly contractual hours.
- Banded hours provisions.
Employees enjoy a new right to be placed in a band of hours that more accurately reflects the hours they habitually work over a 12-month reference period as against their contractual hours.
Employers may refuse an employee’s request where:
- the facts do not support the employee’s claim
- significant adverse changes have impacted on the business (e.g. loss of an important contract)
- emergency circumstances (e.g. business has had to close due to flooding)
- where the hours worked by the employee were due to a genuinely temporary situation (e.g. cover for another employee on maternity leave).
The provision will not apply to banded hours’ arrangements where they have been agreed by collective bargaining.
| Band |
From |
To |
| A |
3 hours |
6 hours |
| B |
6 hours |
11 hours |
| C |
11 hours |
16 hours |
| D |
16 hours |
21 hours |
| E |
21 hours |
26 hours |
| F |
26 hours |
31 hours |
| G |
31 hours |
36 hours |
| H |
36 hours and over |
|
- Strong anti-penalisation provisions.
The Bill provides strong anti-penalisation provisions for employees who invoke their rights under this legislation also strong penalties for employers who do not comply with its provisions. These include:
- Awards to employees who are not issued with the core employment terms in writing within 5 days of starting employment
- Fines of up to €5,000
- Anti-penalisation awards of up to two years’ salary
- Fixed penalty notices
- Imprisonment of up to 12 months
- Potential for personal liability for senior employees and directors where they have consented or connived in non-compliance in respect of certain offences
Don’t ask yourself, ask us. Call one of our employment law advisors to find out how the Bill will impact your business: 0818 923 923.
