NEWS
RESOURCES
Welcome to Softworks: Workforce Management, Time and Attendance
Getting the Levels Right
– Staff Leave and Entitlements
What is my company’s staff entitled to in terms of leave? How do I maintain customer service over holiday periods such as Christmas, Easter and summer holidays? Are these questions you need answers to?
Employers must ensure that they clearly set out their policy, procedure and practice in contracts of employment and/or staff handbooks with regard to time off and payment for employees’ various leaves from employment. Management must adhere to these consistently throughout their organisation to avoid discrimination.
The Main Forms Of Employment Leave Entitlements Include:
Legislated Leaves:
Annual Leave:
The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, provides for a minimum annual leave entitlement of four weeks, although an employee’s contract could give greater rights.
- Annual leave is not affected by other legislated leave, including maternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, force majeure leave and the first 13 weeks of Carer’s leave. Time spent on these types of leave is treated as though, an employee has been in employment, and this time can be used to accumulate annual leave entitlement.
- Employees do not accrue annual leave while on sick leave, occupational injury, temporary lay-off or a career break.
- An employee who is certified ill while on annual leave is entitled to discount the period of illness as a period of annual leave.
Public Holiday Leave:
- There are nine public holidays. Good Friday is a bank holiday, not a public holiday, and it is discretionary whether an employer grants this day as an additional day’s leave.
- Most full-time employees are entitled to have paid leave on public holidays unless the employee has been off work for more that 26 weeks for ordinary illness or accident, and more than 52 weeks for an occupational accident.
- Where an employee is part-time on sick leave they would be entitled to time off work for the public holiday, provided they worked 40 hours in the preceding five week period.
- Public holiday is payable during maternity, parental and adoptive leaves.
Maternity Leave:
The Maternity Protection Act, 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act, 2004, are the key legislative provisions governing maternity leave in Ireland and giving the following rights:
- 18 weeks’ maternity leave and eight weeks’ unpaid leave.
- Paid time off work for ante/post-natal classes for pregnant women and last two classes of the set for expectant fathers.
- Should the workplace be deemed as a risk to the pregnant employee she is entitled to paid health and safety leave.
- Fathers are entitled to take the paid maternity leave should the mother die within 24 weeks’ of her giving birth.
- An employee who is within 26 weeks’ of the date of confinement is entitled to up to one hour paid leave per day for the purpose of breastfeeding.
Adoptive Leave:
The Adoptive Leave Act, 1995, (due to be superseded by the Adoptive Leave Bill, 2004) entitles adoptive mothers/sole male adopters to 16 weeks’ consecutive unpaid leave from the date of adoption.
Parental Leave:
The Parental Leave Act, 1998, (due to be updated by the Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill, 2004), presently entitles parents of children born or adopted after December 1993 to unpaid leave of 14 weeks’ before a child turns five years’ of age.
Force Majeure Leave:
The Parental Leave Act, 1998 gives employees a limited right to paid leave from work at the time of an urgent family crisis (not bereavement). The maximum amount of leave is three days within any 12-month period or five days within a 36-month period.
Jury Service Leave:
The Jury’s Act, 1976, provides that employees who are called for jury service must be given paid time off work and there should be no loss of employment entitlements to the particular employee arising out of the jury service.
Carer’s Leave:
The Carer’s Leave Act, 2001, allows all eligible employees to have the right to temporarily leave their job in order to look after someone in need of full-time care. Carer’s leave is unpaid but the employee in question may qualify for a Social Welfare payment.
Additional possible discretionary leaves:
Sick Leave:
- There is no legal entitlement for an employer to pay sick leave in this jurisdiction, however there are circumstances that supersede this, such as if a contract of employment provides a sick pay clause and/or the employer’s custom and practice is to pay sickness benefit.
- Employees are entitled to take time off work while attending hospital appointment during the working day but employers cannot force them to take this time as annual leave. (Pregnant employees are the only exception as they may attend medical visits connected with their pregnancy and receive paid time off work).
Bereavement Leave:
There is neither a legal nor a statutory entitlement for employees to receive paid bereavement leave from their employment; however employers at their discretion, generally grant employees reasonable time off work such as:
- Spouse, parent, child, brother or sister: up to three day’s leave
- Grandparents, parents-in-laws: one day’s leave
- Others: no paid leave
Others: no paid leave
Such leave is at the discretion of the employer and where paid, it normally ranges from between two and five additional days’ annual leave at the time it occurs.
Special leave for career breaks, term time work, study leave etc
These leaves are not statutory entitlements and are at an employers’ discretion.
Monday 30th August - Friday 3rd September 2010
Birmingham
29th September 2010
21st October 2010, MCC Canada
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