Irish Employment Law: What we learned last quarter (Q2 2020)

Legal Island's Learning and Development team have collated all of the updates we sent our 1,300+ Irish Employment Law Hub subscribers in Q2 2020 and listed some of the most important and interesting ones below.  Click on the links to find out more:

1. Unsurprisingly, there was a lot about the Coronavirus Pandemic this quarter and we offer a wide range of resources to help from articles to webinars which are all available in our Coronavirus hub. The HSA has produced some very useful return to work checklists and templates. The recording of Jennifer Cashman's webinar on returning safely to work is also available.
   
   
2. We were delighted to confirm the launch of our brand-new (and biggest-selling) e-learning programme, ‘Return to Work Safely Protocol: COVID-19 Induction Training’.  The programme, which has been created in association with RDJ complies with HSA guidance and enables employers to provide compulsory COVID-19 induction training to all employees in advance of them returning safely to the workplace.
   
   
3. The proposed programme for government has at least 12 promises of importance to employers, including gender pay gap publication; introduction of a pension auto-enrolment system; and mandating public sector employers, colleges, and other public bodies to move to 20% home and remote working in 2021 and provide incentives for private sector employers to do likewise.
   
   
4. The High Court ruled that Sectoral Employment Orders are unconstitutional.
   
   
5. New Labour Court Rules 2020 came into force on 30th March, which simplify the process of appealing a decision and in particular facilitate the electronic submission of appeal forms to appeals@labourcourt.ie. The Labour Court has also published its Annual Report for 2019 and Court has produced a User’s Guide to Virtual labour Court Hearings. 
   
   
6. Still on virtual issues, NUI Galway published really interesting survey results on the benefits and drawbacks of remote working, along with a number of recommendations. Clearly some organisations see benefits - Twitter has told staff that they can work from home "forever”.
   
   
7. The WRC published its 5th annual report. 5000 adjudication hearings were held, almost 5000 inspections were made, and it received 55000 calls to its helpline. They must like fives. The WRC has also published a model matrix for service delivery that includes mediation, written procedure, virtual hearings, and limited face-to-face mediation and adjudication Hearings.
   
   
8. We added quite a few useful articles to our website this quarter, including guidance on Collective Redundancy and practical Data Protection issues in the employment context. Our friends at Texthelp have confirmed that, in light of current events, it is offering free 90-day access to its digital inclusion tool Browsealoud, so organisations can ensure their website is accessible to every visitor.
   
   
9. Law centres are facing dramatic increases in calls from workers concerned about their employment rights during the coronavirus pandemic; and did you know that there are tools, such as ‘Sneek’, that can be set to automatically take photos of employees working from home using their webcam every five minutes?
   
   
10. The Diversity and Inclusion Forum continues to grow and develop as Barry Phillips, CEO Legal Island, facilitates a range of challenging and thought-provoking discussions around all things D&I.  You can register for the forum here.