Bankers get 10 extra days paid leave for marriage
Details, confirmed after the Irish Examiner revealed all teachers are entitled to take seven consecutive days extra paid leave for their weddings, show employees at Anglo Irish Bank, AIB and Bank of Ireland also receive the benefit.
Staff at BoI are entitled to 10 days extra paid leave, regardless of their position or contracted holidays.
Their counterparts at AIB and Anglo Irish — now the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation — receive five days. There are no restrictions on who is entitled to these paid holidays, which are in addition to those which individuals are contracted to receive.
As reported by the Irish Examiner on Wednesday, all teachers are entitled to take an extra seven days paid leave to get married.
On average, 295 teachers working in primary, vocational, secondary and community/comprehensive schools receive these every year. However, this figure does not include the 240 vocational schools and community colleges which account for 6% of Ireland’s primary and secondary schools, as this financial information is not held by the Department of Education and Skills.
The entitlement is detailed in a 1974 Department of Finance circular, which was further negotiated under the 1980 pay agreement, when salaries and perks for those affected were significantly lower. It was updated over the years to include an increase in days and civil marriages.
Ireland’s largest teachers’ union, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) has defended the arrangement, claiming its members “lack the flexibility” other workers enjoy and, therefore, need the extra time to prepare to get married.
A spokesperson for the Department of Finance confirmed workers can take “a maximum of five days paid leave” provided their total annual and special leave time does not exceed 26 days. Until recently, teachers were also allowed to take up to 30 days uncertified sick leave every year — although the vast majority never took up this entitlement.