Employment

A trainee solicitor who claimed that he was paid less than minimum wage during his traineeship has been awarded €24,155 in back pay. Imitiaz Ahmed raised a minimum wage action against his former employer, claiming that he worked up to 60 hours a week and was sometimes paid nothing at all.

New employment figures show a "positive momentum" for employment levels in Northern Ireland, an employment law expert has said. The June Labour Market Report for Northern Ireland was issued yesterday by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).

Published decisions from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) should be anonymised to protect both businesses and workers, a leading employment lawyer has said. TDs yesterday rejected a proposed amendment to the Workplace Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 which would have redacted t

The Court of Appeal of Northern Ireland has dismissed an appeal from the Department of Justice against a finding that it had discriminated against a female employee on the grounds of sex. The claimant alleged that she had been employed with the DOJ and had intermittently performed the functions of a

The Labour Court is set to examine pay and conditions in the construction sector, potentially paving the way for a new sectoral employment order (SEO). Following a request from trade unions, the Labour Court said it will conduct an examination of "the terms and conditions relating to the remuneratio

New legislation to clamp down on bogus self-employment "could actually create more problems than it solves", Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys has claimed. The minister was pressed in the Dáil yesterday on whether she would commit to new legislation in the next six months, as recom

Deliveroo has succeeded in its employment case in the Court of Appeal in London. The IWGB union had brought a case seeking employee status for Deliveroo couriers but judges upheld the rulings of the inferior courts that riders are self-employed.

The Supreme Court has quashed a recommendation by the Labour Court for a Sectoral Employment Order setting minimum conditions for electrical workers’ pay because it failed to provide adequate reasoning for the decision. The SEO was recommended under the procedure set out in Chapter 3 of Indust

Ireland has backed long-standing proposals to widen international participation in the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Employment Minister Damien English said the government had decided to ratify the 1986 Instrument for the Amendment of the ILO Constitution.

The High Court has held that the Labour Court was incorrect in law when it refused a claim by a HSE employee under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 on the basis that he was not a fixed-term employee. The court said that the Labour Court had mistakenly decided that a person coul

An independent employment law review group, modelled on the Company Law Review Group (CLRG), is set to be established to shape the formulation of employment policy and legislation. Taoiseach Micheál Martin told TDs yesterday that the CLRG "has proven to be very effective in the area of ongoin

A private member's bill to ban the use of non-disclosure agreements to cover up sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace has won unanimous support in the Seanad. The Employment Equality (Amendment) (Non-Disclosure Agreements) Bill 2021, introduced by Senator Lynn Ruane, would amend the

Economy Minister Paul Frew was last night facing cross-party calls for parental bereavement leave and pay legislation to be extended to couples following a miscarriage. The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill yesterday cleared the second stage in Stormont unopposed and will now proceed to comm

Major Irish employers could follow Facebook's lead in allowing their staff to work remotely from abroad, an employment law expert has warned. Dublin solicitor Richard Grogan told The Irish Times that the "floodgates have opened" following Facebook's widely-publicised decision to allow more of its Ir

A statutory sick pay scheme is set to be phased in over a four-year period beginning in 2022. Ministers yesterday approved the drafting of the general scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2021, which will initially provide for three days of paid sick leave per year in 2022, rising to five days in 2023 and