Terms and conditions of employment

The maximum working week for many employees cannot exceed an average of 48 hours. Although some weeks may exceed 48 hours, the average must not. The average may be calculated over one of the following periods:

• 4 months for most employees
• 6 months for employees working in the security industry, hospitals, prisons, gas/electricity, airport/docks, agriculture or in businesses which have peak periods at certain times of the year (such as tourism)
• 12 months where this has been agreed between the employer and the employees (and this must be approved by the Labour Court)

The 48 hours of work do not include annual leave, sick leave or maternity or adoptive or parental leave.

The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 on working time and rest periods does not apply to all employees. It does not apply to the Gardaí, defence forces, employees who control their own working hours or family employees on farms or in private homes. The Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996 regulates the working hours of young people under the age of 18.

Separate regulations govern the working time of:

• trainee doctors
• employees working in mobile road transport activities
• employees working at sea

Rules on the maximum average working week and statutory rest breaks do not apply to employees in certain categories of civil protection services.

All employees, whether they are full-time, part-time, temporary or casual, earn annual leave entitlements from the time they start work. Most employees are entitled to four weeks’ paid annual leave per leave year.

Depending on time worked, employees' holiday entitlements should be calculated by one of the following methods:-

• 4 working weeks in a leave year in which the employee works at least 1,365 hours (unless it is a leave year in which he or she changes employment)
• 1/3 of a working week per calendar month that the employee works at least 117 hours
• 8% of the hours an employee works in a leave year (but subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks).

If more than one of the methods above is applicable, the employee is entitled to whichever method provides the greater entitlement. However the maximum statutory annual leave entitlement of an employee in a leave year is four of their normal working weeks.

The employer determines the timing of an employee’s annual leave, taking into consideration work and personal requirements and should consult them or the relevant union in advance. Pay for the leave must be given in advance and calculated at the employee’s normal weekly rate.

In Ireland there are nine public holidays each year:

• New Year’s Day (1st January)
• St. Patrick’s Day (17th March)
• Easter Monday
• The first Monday in May
• The first Monday in June
• The first Monday in August
• The last Monday in October
• Christmas Day (25th December)
• St. Stephen’s Day (26th December)

In respect of a public holiday the employee is entitled to whichever of the following an employer determines:

• a paid day off on that day
• a paid day off within a month of that day
• an additional day of annual leave
• an additional days pay

Full-time workers have immediate entitlement to benefit for public holidays, and part-time workers have entitlement to benefit when they have worked a total of 40 hours in the previous 5 weeks.

Further information see the website of the Workplace Relations Commission

Overtime is work done outside normal working hours. Employers have no statutory obligation to pay employees for work completed in overtime. However, many employers pay employees higher rates of pay for overtime.

Your contract of employment should state whether you are required to work overtime and should set out the rates of pay, if you are to be paid for it. Certain sectors of employment are covered by Employment Regulation Orders and Registered Employment Agreements and may have higher rates of pay for overtime than for normal hours.

Health and safety laws apply to all employers, self-employed people and employees in their workplaces. This includes fixed-term employees and temporary employees.

The main legislation covering the health and safety of people in the workplace is the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (as amended).

It sets out the rights and obligations of both employers and employees. It also provides for substantial fines and penalties for breaches of the health and safety legislation.

Almost all of the specific health and safety laws that apply generally to all employment are set out in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007- 2020. You can find them and other relevant regulations on the website of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

An employee or employer who intends to terminate a contract of employment must provide the other party with specified minimum notice.

• 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, who have been in continuous service, notice dependent on the length of the employee’s service, as follows -

Required notice

Misconduct

The Acts do not affect the right of an employer or an employee to terminate a contract of employment without notice due to the misconduct of the other party.

Further information is available on website of the Workplace Relations Commission

In general, the Unfair Dismissals Acts, 1977 - 2007, provide that every dismissal of an employee will be presumed to have been unfair unless the employer can show substantial grounds justifying the dismissal.

The purpose of the Acts is to protect employees from being unfairly dismissed from their jobs by laying down criteria by which dismissals are to be judged unfair and by providing an adjudication system and redress for an employee whose dismissal has been found to be unfair.

Further information is available on website of the Workplace Relations Commission

Redundancy occurs 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 on the Department of Social Protection website. Some employers may make redundancy agreements above the statutory rate.

An employee can seek payment under the Redundancy Payments Scheme where an employer is unable to make a redundancy payment.

Your employer can send you to work temporarily in another EU country. During this period, you will acquire the status of a posted worker and will benefit from the same basic working conditions and rights as workers in your host country.

A posting can last as long as it is necessary to complete a specific task. When your posting has finished, you should return to your workplace in the EU country where you were posted from.

The Department of Social Protection has provided information on the social insurance payment procedures for posted workers.

Working conditions

You will fall under the terms and conditions of employment of your host country if they are more advantageous than those of your home country. These conditions and terms of employment relate to:

• all the basic elements of remuneration as defined in national law or universally applicable collective agreements
• allowances or the reimbursement of expenses to cover travel, board and lodging costs in the host country during the posting (if you are required to travel during the posting assignment)
• maximum work periods
• minimum rest periods
• health and safety at work
• conditions on hiring workers, in particular through agencies providing temporary staff
• employment conditions for pregnant women, women who have recently given birth and young people (under the age of 18)
• equal treatment for men and women and other rules to prevent discrimination
• accommodation, if provided by your employer

Read more on posted workers’ rights

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