Employment Law Legislative Updater - April 2017

Summary of Legislative Developments

The Updater covers legislative updates from October 2016 to March 2017 (inclusive). There have been some important developments during this period, mainly in the area of proposed new legislation (bills) and the highlights of this issue include;

• The enactment of the Social Welfare Act 2016 which gives legislative effect to a range of Social Welfare measures announced as part of Budget 2017, including increases in weekly rates of maternity, adoptive and paternity benefit.
• The introduction of the National Minimum Wage Order 2016 increasing the national minimum hourly rate of pay to €9.25 from 1 January 2017.
• The European Union (Recognition of Professional Qualifications) Regulations which transposes Directive 2013/55/EU into Irish law. The purpose of the Directive is to make it easier for professionals to work across the EU.
• Three Bills each of which proposes to amend the Pensions Act 1990 to address situations in which solvent companies are the sponsors of insolvent pension schemes. The focus of each of the Bills is on defined benefit (i.e. final salary) pension schemes. The Bills come in the wake of a series of high-profile cases which highlighted the fact that Irish pensions legislation allows solvent companies to wind up their pension schemes.
• The introduction of two Bills, the Employment Equality (Abolition of Mandatory Retirement Age) Bill 2016 and the Employment Equality (Amendment) Bill 2016, which either seek to abolish mandatory retirement ages or restrict the application of mandatory retirement ages to certain circumstances. 2 ByrneWallace Employment Law: Legislative Updater - April 2017
• The National Minimum Wage (Protection of Employee Tips) Bill 2017 seeks to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 to provide additional protections to employees in the service sector in order to ensure they receive tips or gratuities paid by customers.
• The Banded Hours Contracts Bill 2016, which proposes to confer a right on workers to request increased hours and a corresponding obligation on an employer to consider such a request.
• The Employment Permit Regulations 2017 have consolidated and revoked all regulations in this area into a single set of Regulations for ease of use, with some minor changes to employment identified as “critical” to the economy.

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