Family firms need to be aware of changes ahead, says solicitor
Employers in family-run companies and other small firms are advised to ensure that they comply with new health and safety obligations for the “office at home”.
The Covid-19 Pandemic was instrumental in accelerating all sorts of changes in the workplace, says a leading Cork-based solicitor.
Annette O’Sullivan, solicitor, with Walsh & Partners Solicitors in Cork, says it is crucial that family businesses and other SMEs be aware of new changes that are in or on the way and implement the latest requirements.
"Family businesses often believe that Employment Law requirements do not apply to 'family'. However, a family member can be an employee," Annette advises. "When expanding a business employees from outside the family are brought in. Either way, an Employer has obligations and an Employee had entitlements.
She advises that it is crucial to keep abreast of changes in employment law and review these regularly.
In this article, Annette set out some recent developments in employment law.
The Government has committed to legislate for an employee’s right to request to work remotely. There is currently no legal entitlement to work remotely. However, people are working remotely. Accordingly, Employers need to put a framework in place for current situations a future hybrid work practice.
Employers must ensure they comply with health and safety obligations for the “office at home”. If employees wish to work from abroad, there are significant legal and tax considerations.
The Right to Request Remote Work Bill will provide a legal framework for requesting, approving or refusing a request for remote work. The Government has committed to passing the legislation before the Summer.
The WRC’s Code of Practice on the right to disconnect came into effect on the 1st April, 2021. It envisaged the “creation of a culture in which employees feel they can disconnect from work and work-related devices”. Employees will not routinely have to perform work outside normal working hours or to be penalised for refusing to attend to work matters outside normal working hours. Both Employer and Employee will have to respect another persons right to disconnect by not routinely email, text or call or contacting people outside normal working hours. It is envisaged that it would also apply to customers. Even where an employee works flexible hours, the employer and other employees must maintain clear boundaries between leisure time and work.
An Employer will need to clearly define an employee’s ‘normal working hours. There will be provision for unique situations so that business needs can be met and to take into account working across global time zones where colleagues may need to connect at different times outside normal working hours. Employees will have to co-operate with appropriate mechanisms to record working time.
The Work-life Balance Bill is aimed at balancing caring and parenting roles with work responsibilities and the take-up of family-related leave and flexible working arrangements. The three key elements to it are giving parents and carers the right to request flexible work, offering five days unpaid leave for medical care reasons and an extension on the amount of time a person can take a break to breastfeed.
The Sick Leave Bill will introduce an entitlement to statutory sick leave for an employee who would ordinarily work but is incapable of doing so due to illness or injury. The Statutory Sick Pay Scheme (SSP) will require all employers to provide statutory sick pay to qualifying employees. This new entitlement will come in on a phased basis. It is proposed employees will initially be entitled to paid sick leave for three days, increasing to five in 2024, seven in 2025 and 10 in 2026.
The purpose of the law is to allow parents to take a period of unpaid leave from their employment to care for young children. When paid parent’s leave laws were introduced in 2019, parents received a right to take paid leave from work during the first year of a child’s life. These provisions were extended in 2021 to provide parents with five weeks of paid leave during the first two years of their child’s life. It was announced in Budget 2022 that this leave would be extended to provide parents with seven weeks of Parents Leave. These changes will come into effect from July 2022.
The Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Bill 2022 will prohibit the use of tips to ‘make up’ contractual entitlements to pay and will require employers to clearly display their policy on how tips and service charges are distributed 7. Auto-Enrolment Pension Scheme This new scheme will come into effect in 2024. Membership of the new scheme will be compulsory for the first six months. Thereafter, members can choose to ‘opt-out’.
All private sector workers between 23 and 60 who earn more than €20,000 per year will be automatically enrolled into the new scheme unless they are an existing member of a pension scheme. Contributions paid by employees will be matched by their employers. The State will also add a top-up to the money paid into the scheme. Those outside the eligibility criteria above will be able to ‘opt-in’ to the scheme if they wish.
Contracts of employment Employment contracts for new employees will now need to incorporate remote or hybrid work models. ‘Hybrid', 'Remote' and 'Flexible’ working terms must be very clearly defined and to ensure clarity on what working arrangements apply.
A written Contract of Employment will need to be in place to clearly set out the terms of the employment in respect of pay, hours, rest breaks, notice periods, holidays, pension and sick pay entitlements, grievance procedures, company policies on disciplinary procedures, IT and Social Media usage, Bullying & Harassment and should also now cover what we have stated in this article including remote working and right to disengage.
It is essential that professional advice is sought from a Solicitor to comply with changing legislation.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
