A first time Statutory Sick Pay entitlement for all employees moved closer to enactment with the announcement recently, by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar TD, that the Government has approved the publication of the General Scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2022.

The Bill legislates for a statutory sick pay scheme for all employees, phased in over a four-year period. The new scheme will start with three days per year once the Bill is enacted, rising to five days in 2024, seven days in 2025, and ten days in 2026. The timeline has shifted slightly since the Government first announced details of the proposed scheme last year when it said there would be 10 days of sick leave by 2025.

With many employees still working in a hybrid situation, there are a large amount of people requesting a remote working option on an ongoing basis. Currently this is not regulated, however, legislation has been introduced that when passed into law will give workers the right to request a remote working option. Employers will have the right to refuse on grounds to be stated in the bill. If the worker is dissatisfied there will be a right to bring the matter before the WRC.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of some of the reasons an employer can refuses a remote working request on business grounds:

1. Potential negative impact on the quality of your product or service
2. A potential negative impact on performance of the employee or other employees
3. Concerns for the protection of intellectual property, confidentiality of information and data protection
4. Health and safety issues with a home office or carrying out certain processes at home 
5. Internet connectivity issues 
6. Planned structural changes to the business 
7. If the employee has recently been or, is currently involved in a formal disciplinary process

Consumer rights in Ireland are set for significant reform. The proposed Consumer Rights Bill was published earlier this year for public consulta!on by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The public consultation process completed on June 30, 2021 and submissions will be fully considered before the text of the Bill is finalised.

The Bill only applies to Business to Consumer (not B2B) transactions and is expected to include new statutory rights and remedies in contracts for digital content. It is also expected to contain:

A company may operate a growth share scheme to incentivise their employees and managers. Growth shares are a special class of ordinary shares that generally have a low or nil value until a certain target is reached by the business. Conditions are specified by the employer when the shares are issued and may refer to:

• Company performance
• Individual performance
• Leaver provisions

An award of growth shares can be beneficial for:

• Employers as they can reward participants by providing for a hope equity for short to medium growth without diluting current equity.
• Employees as they own shares in the company and can participate in the company’s growth.

From 2020 employers must report details of shares awarded on the Employers Share Awards return (Form ESA) for any year growth shares are awarded. Details of growth shares forfeited must be reported under the relevant columns of the Forfeitable Shares section of the Form
ESA in the return year when they are forfeited. Form ESA 2020 was due to be filed by 31 August 2021. For subsequent years the reporting date of 31 March following the relevant tax year will apply. The return must be completed offline and then uploaded to Revenue Online Service (ROS) .

There will be new requirements on employers to clearly display their policy on how both card and cash tips, gratuities and service charges are distributed. All electronic tips must be distributed fairly and in a transparent way. This new law will, for the first time, give workers legal protections over tips. It will mean that any tips received cannot be counted towards an employee’s basic pay, they must be counted as additional and separate.

The aim of the Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill is to:

• Provide clarity on the meaning of tips, gratuities and service charges
• Place tips and gratuities, but not service charges, outside the scope of a person’s contractual wages
• Oblige employers to display prominently their policy on the distribution of both cash and card tips 
• Oblige employers to distribute fairly, equitably and in a transparent manner, tips that are received in electronic form, that is, through debit or credit cards or smart phones

An important element of the new law will be to give employees a legal entitlement to receive tips and gratuities paid in electronic form (that is, by debit or credit card) with a provision that these tips and gratuities should be paid out to workers in a fair, transparent and equitable manner. A fair and equitable distribution will be context specific and is likely to take into account matters such as staff hours, busy and quiet periods, a worker’s role in service delivery, customs and practice etc. This new law builds on the suite of legal rights that the
Government is introducing to protect workers, which includes the Sick Leave Bill, the Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive and the right to request remote work.