Browse through brief employment and labor law updates from around the globe. Contact a Littler attorney for more information or view our global locations.

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Increase in the National Minimum Wage

New Legislation Enacted

Authors: Niall Pelly, Partner, and Philip Gray, Associate – GQ | Littler

Ireland’s national minimum rates of pay increased from January 1, 2023. Workers aged 20 and over, are entitled to a minimum wage of EUR 11.30 per hour. Workers who are under 20 are entitled to a minimum wage per hour, as follows: 19 years old, EUR 10.17; 18 years old, EUR 9.04, and under 18 years of age, EUR 7.91.

Amendment to Law Enhances Protections for Whistleblowers

New Legislation Enacted

Authors: Niall Pelly, Partner, and Philip Gray, Associate – GQ | Littler

The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 (the PDAA), which transposes the EU Whistleblowing Directive into Irish law, became effective on January 1, 2023. The PDAA amends current Irish whistleblowing legislation to strengthen the protections for whistleblowers in Ireland. The PDAA makes a number of changes to the procedures that apply when a protected disclosure is submitted, where an employer employs 50 or more employees. Significantly, the legislation extends the power of an employee to seek an injunction to restrain acts of retaliation (i.e., negative acts that are prompted by the employee having made a protected disclosure).

Further, the legislation aims to reverse the burden of proof where an employee is claiming retaliation for raising a protected disclosure by setting out that in any such proceedings, there will be a presumption that the retaliation was a a result of the worker having made a protected disclosure. The burden of proof will be on the employer to show that the act or omission was based on some other justifiable ground and not a result of the protected disclosure.

Employers with more than 250 employees who do not have a local whistleblowing procedure in place are required to put one in place, and employers who have between 50-250 employees will be required to do so by December 2023.

New Statutory Sick Pay

New Legislation Enacted

Authors: Niall Pelly, Partner, and Philip Gray, Associate – GQ | Littler

Statutory sick pay (SSP) was introduced with an effective date of January 1, 2023. As a result, employees with 13 weeks of service are now entitled to three days SSP in 2023 for certified sick leave, with this entitlement expected to rise gradually to 10 days by 2026. SSP is payable at the rate of 70% of an employee’s wage, subject to a daily maximum of EUR 110.

Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Act 2023

New Legislation Enacted

Authors: Niall Pelly, Partner, and Philip Gray, Associate – GQ | Littler

On March 9, 2023, the Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Bill 2023 was signed into law. This was soon followed by the publication of a consultation paper by the Central Bank of Ireland on March 13.

The Central Bank (Individual Accountability Framework) Act 2023 (the Act) will introduce an accountability regime (the Senior Executive Accountability Regime or SEAR) for senior executives working in the financial services industry. SEAR, which is similar to the regime that is already in place in the UK, places obligations on certain customer-facing firms and senior individuals within them to set out clearly where responsibility and decision-making lies. It will also introduce individual accountability and conduct standards, as well as strengthen existing fitness and probity standards.

A three-month public consultation process has commenced on the final form that the implementing regulations will take, with an expected implementation date of December 31, 2023, for the conduct standards and fitness and probity aspects of the Act.