Working from home: how to be out of the office, but not out of the loop

The verdict? The case was dismissed, and the WRC ruled the company’s procedures were fair.

According to the CSO’s Labour Force Survey, as of the last quarter of 2025, 956,600 people worked from home at least some of the time. That’s approximately one-third of the working population.

The Gutierrez Fenoll case serves as a cautionary tale to those workers — the right to work from home does not equate to the right to work from anywhere.

“There is no automatic right for an employee to work from overseas simply because they have a remote-working arrangement,” says Emma Quinn, a senior associate at employment law specialists Lewis Silkin Dublin. “The default assumption is that the employee will work in the jurisdiction in which they are employed.”

Some employers allow employees to work from overseas. HubSpot, for example, has a ‘work from anywhere’ policy, so employees can work from outside their home country for up to 90 days a year.

To avoid misunderstanding, Quinn advises employers to address the issue in their remote-working policy. If they don’t, and employees work from outside Ireland, she warns that “employers could inadvertently create a tax presence in that jurisdiction, triggering foreign employment-law obligations and running into problems with social-insurance contributions. If overseas working is allowed on a limited or temporary basis, clear parameters should be set out, specifying the maximum duration, which countries are approved, and what conditions must be met”.

Rights and responsibilities

Employees and their employers also need to be aware of other rights and responsibilities. One is their right to request remote working.

Jacqueline Ho, a management knowledge lawyer at Lewis Silkin Dublin, says the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 gives us this right, but that “it does not compel employers to say yes to that request”.

“Employers have a high degree of discretion when refusing requests,” she says. “And if circumstances change on either side, the arrangement can be reviewed and, if appropriate, revoked.”

If remote working is approved, Frank Power, a senior ergonomist and inspector with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), stresses that employers are still responsible for the health and safety of their workers. “The Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act 2005 obliges employers to carry out assessments of the workplace to ensure workers aren’t at risk of injury or ill-health. In the case of employees working from home, they can’t just assume that home is safe and suitable for work.”

Risk assessments should be carried out in all cases of remote or hybrid working. They don’t necessarily require a visit to the employee’s house, but can be done via self-assessment questionnaires, checklists, or video calls that assess aspects of the home office, such as seating, lighting, ventilation, and essential work equipment, including computers.

“The HSA developed guidelines to help employers assess the workplaces of remote workers and provide for their needs during the pandemic and those guidelines are now freely available at hsa.ie,” says Power.

Employees have health-and-safety responsibilities, too. “They have a legal duty to co-operate with employers and take reasonable care of their safety at work, as well as the safety of others who may be affected by their work,” says Quinn. “In practice, this means maintaining a safe workspace, reporting hazards or risks promptly, and complying with whatever policies or risk assessments the employer has put in place. If a risk assessment identifies plugs or sockets as a trip hazard, it’s the employee’s responsibility to rectify this. If they suffer an injury when working from home, they should report it to their employer as a workplace incident. Incident report procedures apply regardless of location.

You are your own boss

Without a manager to watch over them, employees working from home are also responsible for managing their own days. Organisational psychologist Jennifer Dowling explains why regular breaks and rest periods should be included. Studies, such as a 2022 US review, “demonstrate that breaks are necessary to physiological and psychological wellbeing, as well as to sustained performance and productivity”, she says.

Employers can support employees’ efforts through what Ho calls “good management practices and regular communication. Calendar reminders, time-management tools that prompt people to take breaks at regular intervals, and even simple team directives, like ‘no meetings over lunch’, can make a real difference”.

Managers should pay attention to the hours employers are working and telltale signs, like emails sent late at night. “Check in to ensure employees are taking breaks and not working in excess of maximum working hours,” she says.

“Managers should also lead by example by visibly taking breaks and not rewarding people who are online at all hours.”

Employees are required to take care around issues of data protection and confidentiality when handling potentially sensitive information outside of the office environment.

Quinn has tips on the policies employers should develop and employees should follow: Protect computers and important documents with strong passwords; caution employees against accessing work systems over public wi-fi networks in places like coffee shops; install a privacy screen and lock your screen whenever you step away from your computer.

“Store physical documents securely and dispose of them properly, not in the household recycling bin,” she says. “Be conscious about making work calls in places you may be overheard. Be vigilant about phishing and other cyber threats. Make sure laptops and phones are physically secured and regularly updated, so that information can be retrieved or wiped in case of theft. And report any breach or suspected breach to your employer immediately.”

Communication is key

Ho wants WFH employees to know they have the same opportunities for training and progression as their office-based colleagues. “Out of sight shouldn’t become out of mind when it comes to promotions, development opportunities, or access to training,” she says. “Employers should actively ensure all training, team meetings, and development programmes are accessible to remote workers, whether through hybrid attendance or fully virtual delivery.

“Also, I strongly recommend regular one-to-one check-ins between managers and remote employees, not just about task completion, but about development goals, career aspirations, and other concerns.”

The crucial consideration when working from home, according to Dowling, is maintaining ongoing connection and communication.

Not only does it help counter feelings of loneliness and isolation, which Gallup’s most recent State of the Global Workplace report found was a significant drawback to remote working, but she also says that “building trust between employer and employee is integral to the success of remote working”.

Quinn also stresses that communication is key.

“Remote working only works well when both sides are open and co-operative about it,” she says.

For employees, this means being available during agreed work hours, keeping in regular contact with managers and colleagues, and notifying their employer of any changes in circumstances that might affect the remote-working agreement.

“That could be a change of address, a deterioration in workspace conditions, or a health issue,” says Quinn.

For employers, it means clearly communicating the rights and responsibilities of employees. Quinn believes the best way of doing this is by developing a remote working policy and making sure everyone understands it.

“Most WRC disputes arise not because of bad faith on either side, but because of different expectations or understandings about expected standards or behaviours. The time and effort employers invest in getting policies right at the outset will pay for itself many times over in WRC claims avoided.”