by Breda O'Malley August-02-2022 in Employment Law
Employee’s Entitlements
Under the Act, employees will be entitled to 70% of their daily earnings up to a maximum of €110 a day for three days, which will be payable by their employer. The allowance will increase to five days in 2024, 7 days in 2025, and 10 days in 2026. The days can be consecutive or non-consecutive days. This staggered roll out has been designed to avoid placing an excessive financial burden on employers and to allow them to budget and plan for additional costs.
The Act applies to both part-time and full-time employees; however, employees must have completed 13 weeks continuous service before the Act applies. An employee seeking to rely on the Act must provide their employer with a certificate from a registered medical practitioner outlining that the employee is unfit to work due to injury or illness. Once the entitlement to statutory sick leave from the employer ends, the employee may qualify for illness benefit.
Records
The Act places an obligation on employers to keep proper records for each employee regarding the sick leave they availed of. The employer must retain those records for four years.
The records must include
- the employees’ period of employment,
- the dates of statutory sick leave availed of and
- the rate of statutory sick leave payment.
The penalty for not complying with record-keeping requirements is a fine up to €2,500.
Exemptions
If an employer is experiencing severe financial difficulties, they may apply to the Labour Court for an exemption.
WRC Complaints
Where an employer has not complied with the Act, an employee can make a complaint to the WRC within 6 months. A successful complaint may result in an award of compensation of up to 20 weeks pay.
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About the Author
Breda O'Malley
Breda is a partner in the Employment Law Team at Hayes solicitors.
Breda advises on the full range employment issues across a broad range of sectors, for established business clients and senior executives.