Government 'favouring businesses over employees with remote working  measures'

Leo Varadkar says he wants to make it easier for employers to say yes to remote working and harder for them to say no.

The Government has been accused of favouring businesses over workers with new measures on working from home.

Employers will have at least 13 grounds to refuse an employee's request to work remotely under draft legislation published Tánaiste Leo Varadkar.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Patricia King said the 13 criteria set out are "sweeping and subjective" and claimed they "do not strike a balance between employer and employee needs".

"They duplicate and extend on the eight business reasons for refusing a request contained in current UK legislation — reasons which have been found to allow employers to retain and use their unfettered ability to turn down requests for remote working and which are now subject to review," she said.

Draft legislation will allow employers to turn down requests for remote working says General Secretary of the  ICTU trade Union Patricia King.

However, Mr Varadkar said employers will have to provide strong reasons that "stack up" in order to deny remote working requests.

He said the Bill will provide a legal framework for requesting, approving, or refusing requests for remote working.

"At the moment a lot of people have to work from home because it's required as a consequence of public health restrictions. 

Blended work practices

"I want after the pandemic for this to become much more of a choice — a choice for workers to work from home or engage in hybrid working or blending working, provided the business is done and provided that public services are not are not diminished in any way."

He said it is about "moving the dial" to make it easier for employers to say yes to remote working and harder for them to say no.

But Sinn Féin's Louise O’Reilly accused Mr Varadkar of "pulling a fast one" and said he was trying to appear as if he is providing an additional workers’ right, but making that right almost impossible for a worker to access.

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy described the Bill as "an employers’ charter which only serves to undermine the right to work from home".

Among the 13 valid reasons to refuse requests include employers being concerned about costs or poor internet coverage in the area where a worker lives. 

An employer can also deny a request if it is felt there is a potential negative impact on the quality of work or performance.

Concerns about the protection of business confidentiality or intellectual property, and the suitability of the proposed workspace on health and safety grounds are also listed as valid refusal reasons.