2023 changes in HR-Employment affecting you and your employees

Changes and implementation

When legislation changes the employment landscape, employers are at liberty to implement unilaterally the policies without having to seek the approval of the employees.

Comparing its worth noting that if your conditions and terms are better than the new legislation you don’t have to do anything. Informing staff is a simple requirement setting out your condition compared to the new laws is a good exercise and avoids endless knocks on your office door.  If your conditions are not equal or more favourable to the new laws, then you will need to update your documents.

We intend to highlight the changes for you, and you should consider if you need assistance or not.

1. Pay, National Minimum Wage Act 2000

If you pay above the national minimum pay which is now €11.30 per hour, then there is no change. However, what can get impacted is Sunday premiums and comparators. Review employees’ current rate to ensure there is no drop to the standards of higher paid employees. Other rates apply as follows

• Aged 20 and over: €11.30
• Aged 19: €10.17
• Aged 18: €9.04
• Aged under 18: €7.91

5. Working from Home

A lot of staff worked at home or in isolated premises during the Covid-19 period. They are now using this as the basis to claim a right to work from home or remotely. No law has been passed to give such a right presently.

However, if you do agree you must follow strict protocols. Including risk assessment of the location the work, data polices, PIPs among other procedures.

2. Sick Pay, Sick Leave Act 2022

Now there is a statiourty sick pay scheme, there is no opting out, unless you make an application to the Labour Court on an inability to meet the obligation, but you will need your accountant and full set of trading accounts with you.

Since 1 January 2023, employees have a right to up 3 days’ sick pay a year for medically certified sick leave. This is called statutory sick pay (that means the legal minimum). Sick pay is paid by you the employer at 70% of the employees normal pay up to a maximum of €110 a day.

The employee must be working at least 13 weeks with your company before they can get statutory sick pay.

You may have a more generous sick pay scheme, but this is the minimum statutory amount.

An employer is not obligated to pay employees for uncertified sick leave or in excess of the statutory entitlement.

6. Public Holidays

The introduction of a 10^th Public Holiday effective from the first Monday in February. The rules still applies where an employee receives a day off with pay – the employee works 4 days and gets paid for 5. Or the employee works the day and receives a different day off, or the employee receives double day’s pay. The rate of pay is 1/5 of normal weekly pay. With regards to part-time employees, they are entitled to benefit from the public holiday if they have worked at least 40 hours within the 5 weeks before the public holiday.

1 Jan       Sun         New Year’s Day

6 Feb       Mon        St Brigid’s Day

17 Mar    Fri           Saint Patrick’s Day

10 Apr    Mon        Easter Monday

1 May     Mon        May Day

5 Jun       Mon        June Bank Holiday

7 Aug      Mon        August Bank Holiday

30 Oct     Mon        October Bank Holiday

25 Dec    Mon        Christmas Day

26 Dec    Tue         St Stephen’s Day

3. Opt out, not in Pension (effective 2024)

Each employee is entitled to enter a pension scheme.  While the proposed scheme is voluntary, the approach is opt-out rather than opt-in. Employees will be able to opt out after month six following commencement and after six months of each tri-annual increase within a two-month window, with employees to receive a refund of their own contributions.

All employees not already in an occupational pension scheme, aged between 23 and 60 and earning over €20,000 across all of their employments, will be automatically enrolled in the scheme. Employer and employee contributions will start at 1.5% in 2024 and will increase by 1.5% every three years until they eventually reach 6% by 2034. Employers will be required to match contributions made by employees up to an earnings threshold of €80,000.

In addition to employer contributions, the State will also top up contributions by €1 for every €3 saved by the employee, up to a maximum of €80,000 of earnings.  After six months, employees will be able to opt-out or suspend participation. After two years, those employees who opted-out will be automatically re-enrolled. Administration costs and burdens are intended to be kept at an absolute minimum, and a Central Processing Authority will be established to administer the system.

6. PAYMENT OF WAGES (AMENDMENT) (TIPS AND GRATUITIES) ACT 2022.

Review your policy and ensure you have posted the legislation updates on a staff notice board and that all tips collected, cash, credit cards etc, are paid out to the employees.

Employers cannot use tips and gratuities to ‘make up’ contractual rates of pay and cannot make a deduction from a person’s wage in relation to tips and gratuities.

Workers are legally entitled to receive electronic tips and gratuities and they must be distributed in a fair manner. The employer must provide a statement to workers showing the amount of tips obtained in a period and the portion paid to the individual employee for that particular period.

An employer cannot retain any share of electronic tips. However, there may be circumstances e.g., to pay tax, or bank charges arising from providing electronic modes of tipping, or only where the employer regularly performs to a substantial degree the same work performed by some or all the employees, where such an amount may be deducted that is fair in the circumstances.