By law an employer must provide written terms and conditions of employment to employees.
Currently there are 3 pieces of legislation that outline provisions and protection for employees in respect of terms and conditions of employment.
Section 9 of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 provides that employers must within a month provide written terms and conditions of employment to their employee.
Section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 –2014 provides that an employer must furnish a contract of employment within 8 weeks of the employee’s commencement date.
Section 7 of the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 has amended section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, whereby employers are required no later than 5 days after the commencement of an employee’s commencement date provide the employee with a written statement outlining 5 core details:
the employer’s and employee’s full name
the employer’s registered address
if it is a fixed term contract, the duration period of the contract
the rate or method of calculation of the employee’s remuneration and the pay reference period
the number of hours required to work.
Implementing Changes to Existing Terms and Conditions of Employment
Where there is a downturn in business and an employer is seeking to reduce costs to avoid redundancies, the employer may consider changing employees terms and conditions of employment.
The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994-2014 provides that an employer can implement changes to an employee’s terms and conditions of employment. However, the employer must provide notification of the proposed changes in writing, explaining the reasons for the change and the date the changes take effect no later than one month after the change takes effect.
Where there are significant changes to an employee’s contract of employment, for good industrial relations and HR practice, it is recommended that an employer meet with the employee, negotiate the new terms and conditions of employment and agree to the terms and conditions of employment.
Where an employee refuses to accept the new terms and conditions of employment the employer may consider other alternatives such as temporary short time, lay off, or redundancy.
An employer must be mindful that where an employee’s terms and conditions have changed and the employee has refused or disagrees with the implemented changes, the employee may raise complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission. Furthermore, if an employee resigns because of the changes to their terms and conditions of employment, the employee may raise a complaint of Constructive Dismissal.
If ESA can assist you with any of the above please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01 8774608 or [email protected]
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