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The Employee's rights and obligations
A did: Bondari Anastasia

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The Employee's rights and obligations

Employers are responsible for ensuring all their employees receive certain basic employment
rights. These rights are governed by detailed employment legislation. If you employ people or
are setting up a business that will employ people you need to be familiar with your
responsibilities and your employees rights.
Here we outline the responsibilities of employers. The focus is on your duties to your employees.
You can get more information from the Workplace Relations Commission's Information and
Customer Service or from bodies representing your sector such as IBEC (the Irish Business and
Employers Confederation) or ISME (Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Assocation) or
the Small Firms Assocation. You can read this guide to employment law (pdf) available on
workplacerelations.ie.
Employment services and supports
Intreo is a new service from the Department of Social Protection that provides a single point of
contact for all employment and income supports. It has a range of services for employers
including:
The Jobs Ireland employment service giving employers access to jobseekers

Financial support for employers creating new and additional jobs through the JobsPlus
scheme, JobBridge internships and work placement
Workplace supports to assist employees with disabilities including the Wage Subsidy
Scheme and the Employee Retention Scheme.
Definition of an employee
Employers engage persons on either contracts of service or contracts for services. Only a person
engaged under a contract of service is an employee and therefore protected by the full range of
employment legislation. An independent contractor or self-employed person will have a contract
for services with the party for whom the work is being done. The distinction between a contract
of service, and a contract for services can sometimes be unclear but the type of contract a person
is engaged under can have serious implications for both employer and employee in matters such
as employment protection legislation, taxation and social welfare.
You can find more information in our documents about different types of employment, part-time
workers, agency workers and workers on fixed-term or specified purpose contracts.
Contracts and terms of employment
While the full contract of employment does not have to be in writing, you must give your
employee certain terms and conditions of employment in writing within 2 months of starting
employment. This information must include the full names of the employer and the employee
and details of the job title, the pay, hours of work, notice requirements. You can read details in
our document on the contract of employment.
While most terms and conditions of employment are stated in a written contract or a company
handbook you should be aware that custom and practice in the workplace can also constitute a
term of employment, for example, a mid-morning break of 10 minutes.
If you, as the employer, wish to change a term or condition of employment you must agree this
change with your employee. This requirement for both the employers and the employees
consent to changes in the terms of the contract is part of contract law.
Rates of pay
Most experienced adult workers in Ireland are entitled to be paid a minimum wage of 8.65 per
hour. There are however, some exceptions to this minimum wage, including people employed by
close relatives, people aged under 18 and trainees or apprentices. You must also give your
employees payslips showing their wages and any deductions that have been made.
Hours of work, breaks and rest periods
You are responsible for ensuring that your employees are given adequate rest. The Organisation
of Working Time Act 1997 sets down the rules governing maximum working hours and daily and
weekly rest breaks.
Leave
Nearly all employees, full-time, part-time, temporary or casual have annual leave and public
holiday entitlements from the time they start work. Most employees are entitled to 4 weeks paid
annual leave per leave year. Part-time workersentitlement is generally calculated as 8% of the
hours worked subject to a maximum of 4 working weeks per leave year. Employers can
determine the timing of annual leave, taking into consideration work and personal requirements;
however you should consult your employee or their union in advance. Your employee can
request pay for annual leave in advance. You are also obliged to allow employees to avail of
statutory protective leave, such as maternity leave, health and safety leave, parental
leave,adoptive leave, and carers leave. There is specific legislation setting down the rules for
each entitlement.
Tax and PRSI
You are responsible for deducting the correct amount of tax, PRSI, and Universal Social Charge
from your employees' wages and remitting these to Revenue using the PAYE system. You
also pay employer's PRSI contributions. You must register as an employer with Revenue.
The JobsPlus scheme is a new employer incentive which encourages and rewards employers who
employ jobseekers on the Live Register. It is designed to encourage employers and businesses to
employ people who have been out of work for long periods. Eligible employers who recruit fulltime employees on or after 1 July 2013 may apply for the incentive, which will operate on a pilot
basis.
The Department of Social Protection will pay the incentive to the employer monthly in arrears
over a 2-year period. It will provide 2 levels of regular cash payments:
A payment of 7,500 for each person recruited who has been unemployed for more than
12 but less than 24 months
A payment of 10,000 for each person recruited who has been unemployed for more than
24 months
You can read the Employers Guide to PAYE and recent changes to the PAYE system on the
Revenue website. You can get information about PRSI from the Department of Social Protection.
Employment records
As an employer you are required to keep certain records relating to your employees. This is to
show that you are compliant with employment legislation. Workplace Relations
Commission inspectors will require access to these records during an inspection. You can find
a guide to how inspections are carried out (pdf) on workplacerelations.ie.
Health and safety in the workplace
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 employers have a duty to
ensure employeessafety, health and welfare at work as far as is reasonably practicable. In order
to prevent workplace injuries and ill health you are required, among other things, to:
Provide and maintain a safe workplace, machinery and equipment
Prevent risks from use of any article or substance and from exposure to physical agents,
noise and vibration

Prevent any improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety,health and welfare of
employees at risk (horseplay and bullying at work come within these categories)
Provide instruction and training to employees on health and safety
Provide protective clothing and equipment to employees (at no cost to employees)
Appoint a competent person as the organisations Safety Officer
Every employer is required to carry out a risk assessment for the workplace which should
identify any hazards in the workplace, assess the risks arising from such hazards and identify the
steps to be taken to deal with any risks. You must also prepare a safety statement based on the
risk assessment. The Health and Safety Authorityprovides tools to help you with these tasks.
Employers are obliged to report any accident that results in an employee missing 3 consecutive
days at work (not including the day of the accident) to the Health and Safety Authority.
Disciplinary procedures and dismissal

The Workplace Relations Commission has a Code of Practice: Grievance and Disciplinary
Procedures which states that employers should have written grievance and disciplinary
procedures. Disciplinary procedures set out the stages and process you should follow in relation
to alleged shortcomings of an employee.
Generally, the procedures allow for informal warnings leading to written warnings and ultimately
to dismissal. Under the Unfair Dismissals Acts you are required to give employees written notice
of the procedures to be followed before dismissal. This must be done within 28 days of entering
the contract of employment.
You should give employees copies of these at the start of their employment. If you are
considering dismissal you must follow fair procedures. This includes giving your employee
appropriate warnings, making them fully aware of the allegations against them and give them an
opportunity to present their side. You must also give them the opportunity to be represented in
any disciplinary procedures by, for example, a trade union official or other representative.
If you do dismiss an employee you must be able to show that that there were fair grounds for the
dismissal and that fair procedures were followed. You can read more in our document on fair
grounds for dismissal.
You can read about redundancy procedures in our document on closing a business.

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The Employee's rights and obligations

A did: Bondari Anastasia

The Employee's rights and obligations

The Jobs Ireland employment service giving employers access to jobseekers

Provide and maintain a safe workplace, machinery and equipment

noise and vibration

Disciplinary procedures and dismissal

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