Are you Entitled to Sick Leave?

In general an employee has no right under employment law in Ireland to be paid while on sick leave. It is at the discretion of the employer to decide his/her own policy on sick pay and sick leave, subject to the employee’s contract or terms of employment. Under Section 3 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and 2001 an employer must provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within two months of the commencement of the employment. One of the terms referred to in this Act on which the employer must provide information is the terms or conditions relating to incapacity for work due to sickness or injury.

Social Welfare Fraud

Reporting possible Social Welfare fraud

The Central Control Section of the Department of Social and Family Affairs accepts reports of possible fraud offered by members of the public in relation to the Department’s schemes. Reports are accepted by email, phone or in writing. All reports are dealt with in confidence. A member of the public may give details anonymously.

Contact Details:
By email: central.control@welfare.ie
By phone: (01) 704 3000, ask for Central Control Section,
By Post: Central Control Division, Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.

Voluntary Work Scheme

In Department of Social and Family Affairs offices around the country, regular enquiries are made by jobseekers and groups about who and what is covered by the Voluntary Work Option – the aim is twofold:

-to encourage voluntary organisations to involve jobseekers to the greatest extent possible in their existing activities by creating new opportunities for voluntary work,
-to inform jobseekers of their freedom to involve themselves in voluntary work and to encourage them to do so.

Examples of voluntary work in which jobseekers may engage include helping the sick, older people or people with a disability or assisting youth clubs, church groups, sports groups, cultural organisations or local resident associations.

Click Here for more details (please note: this article link opens welfare.ie) 

Do i have a Contract of Employment?

Yes. Every employee has a contract of employment. It can be a formal document, a letter of appointment or a company-union handbook or agreement. Equally, it can be an oral agreement between the employee and the employer. In most cases, a contract of employment is a mixture of all these elements. Sometimes employees are heard to say, ‘I have no contract of employment’. What they really mean is that they have no written contract of employment. Such a statement might also mean that their employer was in breach of the Terms Of Employment (Information) Acts, 1994-2001.

The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 and 2001 provide that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within the first two months of the commencement of employment.

Public Holidays

There are 9 public holidays in Ireland each year. Public holidays in Ireland (as in other countries) may commemorate a special day or other event, for example, St Patrick's Day (17 March) or Christmas Day (25 December). On a public holiday, sometimes called a bank holiday, most businesses and schools close. Other services, for example, public transport still operate but often with restricted schedules. The list of public holidays in Ireland each year is as follows:

-New Year's Day (1 January)
-St. Patrick's Day (17 March)
-Easter Monday
-First Monday in May, June, August
-Last Monday in October
-Christmas Day (25 December)
-St. Stephen's Day (26 December)

Good Friday is not a public holiday. While some schools and businesses close on that day, you have no automatic entitlement to time off work on that day.

NERA & Redundancy

NERA & Redundancy Claims

In addition to providing general information with regard to redundancy legislation and entitlements, NERA can also provide callers with the following limited information relating to redundancy claims:

-Whether a claim has been received and is entered on the Redundancy Payments System
-The date of entry on the system
-The latest processing times

NERA is unable to provide detailed information relating to the status or payment times for individual claims or any queries on such claims. Callers should also note that due to Data Protection requirements, information may only be given out to the claimant or their authorised nominee.

NERA Information Services hours of operation are 9:30am to 5pm, Mon -Fri.
Please contact 1890 80 80 90 or 05991 78990

Minimum Wage - What does not count as Pay!

There are a number of items that are not to be included in the minimum wage calculation, these are:

-Overtime premium
-Call-out premium
-Service pay
-Unsocial hours premium
-Tips which are placed in a central fund managed by the employer and paid as part of your wages
-Premiums for working public holidays, Saturdays or Sundays
-Allowances for special or additional duties
-On-call or standby allowances
-Certain payments in relation to absences from work, for example, sick pay or holiday pay
-Payment connected with leaving the employment including retirement
-Redundancy payments
-Loan by the employer to you