Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 – Is your business ready?

The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 (“the Act”) will come into force in March 2019 and will bring about significant changes to certain employment legislation which will undoubtedly have a significant impact on employers in Ireland.

In particular, the changes to the following employment legislation should be noted by employers;

Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

The Act will amend the Unfair Dismissals legislation by giving Adjudicators of the Workplace Relations Commission authority to require persons on notice to give evidence at a hearing or to produce such documents in that person’s possession relating to those proceedings. In addition, such persons will receive the same “immunities and privileges” (as defined in the Act) as a witness in High Court proceedings would receive.

A legislative amendment where an Adjudicator will have the authority to subpoena any person to attend a hearing to give evidence is likely to pose difficulties for employers, where other employees or persons connected to their business could be required, on a statutory footing, to give evidence at the discretion of the Adjudicator. If a person refuses to comply with a such notice, refuses to give evidence in the proceedings relating to the notice or refuses to produce the required documentation, they shall be guilty of an offence under the Act.

Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994

The most significant amendment to this piece of legislation is that employers will be required, within five days of the commencement of the employee’s employment, to provide the employee with a statement in writing containing the following specific terms;

• The full names of both the employer and the employee;
• The address or principal place of business of the employer in the State;
• The date of expiration of the contract if it is temporary in duration;
• The rate or method of calculation of pay;
• The pay reference period for the purpose of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000;
• The number of hours which the employer expects the employee to work per hour and per day;

The above amendment is separate to the provision of section 3(1) of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 requiring the employer to deliver a statement of terms to an employee within 2 months following the commencement of employment.

Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

The Act also makes notable amendments to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 to include abolishing zero contract hours, save for particular circumstances, such as emergency circumstances or short-term relief.

An additional amendment provides that employees will have a statutory entitlement to a minimum payment, at a rate of three times the national minimum wage, in the event that they do not receive 25% of the contractual hours. The Act provides that the minimum payment will be the lesser of 25% of the employee’s hours or fifteen hours.

Banded contract hours are also introduced by the Act where an employee, whose contract does not reflect the number of hours worked per week over a reference period, can request in writing to be placed on such banded hours as set out in the Act, with an employer having four weeks to comply. An employer can refuse to place an employee on banded hours in certain circumstances, however an employee can bring a complaint before the Workplace Relations Commission which, if the employee’s claim is upheld, has the power to require an employer to place the employee on banded hours but it does not have the power to award an employee compensation in respect of the breach.

Please contact Richard Lee, Senior Associate, in the Employment & Benefits Department of BHSM on 01 440 8300 and rlee@bhsm.ie for further information.

This article is for general information purposes. Legal advice must be obtained for individual circumstances. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this article, no liability is accepted by the author for any inaccuracies.