What are my Employment Rights

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As an employee, you are entitled to receive certain basic employment rights. Although some industries entitle employees to different rights, the list below is the minimum you should receive.

• A written statement of terms and conditions of employment. Whilst the full contract does not have to be in writing, certain terms and conditions of your employment must be stated in writing within two months of starting employment. These would typically include the method of calculating pay and whether or not there is a sick pay scheme in operation. (For fixed term employees it would also include in what circumstances your employment will come to an end.)
• A written statement of pay or ‘payslip’. Your payslip should set out gross pay and list all deductions made from it.
• A minimum wage
• Most experienced adult workers in Ireland are entitled to be paid €8.65 per hour. There are however, some exceptions to the minimum wage, including those employed by close relatives, those aged under 18 and trainees or apprentices.
• A maximum working week average of 48 hours a week
• The maximum 48 hour week is based on an average calculated over a four, six, or twelve-month period depending on the industry. Your employer must keep a record of how many hours you work.
• Unpaid breaks during working hours
• You have the right to a 15-minute break if working four and a half hours of work and a 30-minute break if working six hours of work.
• Annual leave from work
• Full-time workers have the right to four working weeks paid annual leave per year. Part-time workers have the right to a proportional amount of annual leave based on the amount of time they work.
• A minimum amount of notice before dismissal
• You are entitled to a minimum amount of notice if your employment ceases. The minimum amount of notice depends on the length of service. 

Starting a new job
When starting a new job, employees should be familiar with a number of basic provisions under Irish employment law. Below is a brief guide for employees starting a new job. Please note that this is not a legal interpretation of the legislation.

Employment Status of Employee
Employees are engaged on either contracts of service or contracts for services. (Only a person engaged under a contract of service will be an employee and therefore protected by the full range of employment legislation; an independent contractor or self-employed person will have a contract for services with the party for whom the work is being done.) The distinction between a contract of service, on the one hand, and a contract for services, on the other, is sometimes unclear but the type of contract a person is engaged under can have serious implications for both employer and employee in matters such as employment protection legislation, legal responsibility for injuries caused to members of the public, taxation and social welfare.  For further information, please see the “Code of Practice on Employment Status”, which was agreed between the Social Partners, with input from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Department of Social Welfare and NERA.

Atypical workers
Atypical workers include part-time employees, fixed-term employees and temporary agency workers. The first two mentioned categories already benefit from specific statutory protections. There is also legislation setting out the rules for employing young persons.

Fixed Term Workers
A fixed term employee is someone who is employed under a contract which contains a specific start and end date or who is employed to carry out a specific task or project or the continuity of whose contract is contingent on a particular event such as the availability of continued funding from an external source.

Employees cannot remain on a series of fixed-term contract indefinitely. If an employee whose employment commenced prior to the 14 July 2003 accrues three years or continuous service as a fixed term employee, when that employee’s contract comes up for renewal on or after the 14 July 2003, the employee can only be offered one further fixed-term contract. This renewal on a further fixed-term basis cannot be for more than one year. After this, if the employer wishes the employee to continue, it must be with a contract of indefinite duration.

If an employee who commenced employment on a fixed-term basis on or after 14 July 2003 has had two or more fixed term contracts, the combined duration of the contracts shall not exceed four years. After this, if the employer wishes the employee to continue, it must be with a contract of indefinite duration.

For further information download our guide to Protection of Employees .
Follow the link to the relevant legislation; Protection of Employees (Fixed Term) Work Act 2003.
Complaints in relation to fixed term contracts can be made to the Rights Commissioner Service.

Written Terms and Conditions
Whilst the full contract of employment does not have to be in writing, certain terms and conditions of employment must be stated in writing within two months of starting employment. These would typically include the method of calculating pay and whether or not there is a sick pay scheme in operation. (For fixed term employees it would also include in what circumstances their employment will come to an end.)

Working Time Rights
Employees are entitled to be given adequate rest by their employers. The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, sets down the rules governing maximum working hours, daily and weekly rest breaks, annual leave and public holiday entitlements.

Protective Leave
Employees (who meet relevant qualifying criteria, if any) are entitled to avail of certain statutory protective leaves, such as maternity leave, health and safety leave , parental leave, adoptive leave.

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.

Breaks
Employees are entitled to;

• A daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24 hours
• A weekly rest period of 24 consecutive hours per seven days, following a daily rest period
• A 15-minute break if working 4.5 hours.
• A 30-minute break if working six hours.

Payment for breaks is not a statutory entitlement. Some industries are covered by Registered Employment Agreements (REA`s) and Employment Regulation Orders (ERO`s), which may contain regulations regarding breaks.

Sundays
If not already included in the rate of pay, employees are generally entitled to a premium payment for Sunday working or paid time off in lieu. Some industries have REA’s containing regulations on Sunday working. Where there is no collective agreement in place, the employer should look at the closest applicable collective agreement, which applies to same or similar work under similar circumstances, which provides for a Sunday premium.

National Minimum Wage
The National Minimum Wage is €8.65 per hour. The National Minimum Wage applies to all employees except:

• Employees in industries which are covered by registered employment agreements (REA`s) and Employment Regulation Orders (ERO`s), entitling their workers to a higher minimum wage
• Employees who are in their first year of employment since turning the age of 18 (€6.92 per hour)
• Employees who are under 18 years of age (€6.06 per hour)
• Employees who are in their second year of employment since turning 18 (€7.79 per hour)
• Employees who are close relatives of the employer
• Employees undergoing structured training such as an apprenticeship (other than hairdressing apprenticeships)

Complaints in relation to Minimum Wages can be made to NERA Inspectors.

Pay / Wages
Pay Slips
All employees are entitled to receive a pay slip with every payment of wages. This pay slip should show gross wage (wage before deductions) and the nature and amount of each deduction .

Deductions

• An employer is allowed to make the following deductions from an employee’s wage:
• Any deduction required or authorised by law (e.g. PAYE or PRSI) Any deduction authorised by the term of an employee`s contract (e.g. pension contributions, or particular till shortages) Any deduction agreed to in writing in advance by the employee (e.g. health insurance subscription, sports and social club membership subscription)
• A part-time employee is someone who works less hours than a comparable full time employee doing the same type of work.
• A part-time employee shall not be treated less favourably than a comparable full time employee in respect of any condition of employment.

 
Termination of Employment
Employment contracts can be terminated in a variety of ways, such as dismissal, redundancy, or insolvency. Employees should be familiar with their rights and obligations relating to termination of employment in any of these contexts.

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.

The Acts apply to employees over age 16 with at least 12 months’ continuous service with the exception of;

• Close relatives of the employer who live and work in the same private house/farm
• Members of the Defence Forces or Gardaí
• FAS apprentices who have been dismissed within one month of the end of their apprenticeship

The requirement for 12 months’ service does not apply to an employee whose dismissal results from one or more of the following:

• The employee`s trade union membership
• Any matters connected with pregnancy, giving birth or breastfeeding
• Exercising or proposing to exercise rights to protective leave or natal care absence
• Exercising or proposing to exercise rights to parental leave, force majeure leave or carer`s leave
• Exercising or proposing to exercise rights to adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave

Minimum Notice
Both employees and employers are obliged to give notice in the case of termination of employment.

Employees
Employees who have been in continuous employment for at least 13 weeks are obliged to provide their employer with one week’s notice of termination of employment. If a greater amount of notice is specified in the employee’s contract of employment, then this notice must be given.

Employers
Employers must give employees notice dependent on length of the employee’s service.

•  Length of Service - Minimum notice
•  Thirteen weeks to two years - One Week
•  Two to five years - Two Weeks
•  Five to ten years - Four Weeks
•  Ten to fifteen years - Six Weeks
•  More than fifteen years - Eight Weeks

If the employer does not require the employee to work out any part of their notice, the employer is obliged to pay the employee for that period.

Redundancy
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.
 
For information on how to calculate your entitlements please go to the redundancy calculator (http://www.entemp.ie/employment/redundancy/calculator.htm) on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment website.
 
Some employers may make redundancy agreements above the statutory rate.
 
For a copy of the relevant redundancy forms please go to the redundancy page (http://www.entemp.ie/employment/redundancy/publications.htm) on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment website.

Further information on redundancy can also be found in the Redundancy Payments Act s1967-2007.

See also copy of (http://www.entemp.ie/publications/employment/2007/excollredact.pdf) on the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment website.
 
Complaints in relation to statutory redundancy payments can be made to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.