Law & Regulation
Law & Regulation News
Law & Regulation News
Sick pay legislation approved by Oireachtas
The Sick Leave Bill 2022 will initially provide workers with statutory entitlement to sick pay for three days per year, rising to five days in 2024, seven days in 2025, and 10 days in 2026.

Statutory sick pay will be paid by employers at a rate of 70 per cent of an employee’s wage, subject to a daily maximum of €110, which can be revised by ministerial order in line with inflation and changing incomes.

Leo Varadkar, Tánaiste and minister for enterprise, trade and employment, said: “This is a really important new employment right, that all workers will now have, no matter what their illness or job.

“Many employers pay sick pay, but the pandemic really highlighted the vulnerability of some workers, especially in the private sector and those on low pay. We’ve also been behind our European counterparts on this, with Ireland being one of the few advanced countries without such a scheme.

“No worker should feel pressurised to come into work when they are unwell. It’s not good for their own health obviously, but it’s also bad for their colleagues, any customers they deal with and their employer. From later this year, all workers will have the safety net of knowing they will not lose out on payment if they are unwell and can’t come into work.”

Source: www.irishlegal.com

Central Bank to report on price walking ban within six months
A report assessing the impact of a new ban on “price walking” in the Irish motor and home insurance markets will be produced by the Central Bank within six months.

Under regulations which came into effect from 1 July 2022, Ireland became the first EU country to ban price walking, whereby renewing customers are charged a higher premium than an equivalent year one consumer renewing their policy.

The government has now commenced the majority of provisions of the Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022, with immediate effect, which includes a requirement for the Central Bank to assess the ban’s impact.

Seán Fleming, minister of state with special responsibility for financial services, credit unions and insurance, said: “Today’s commencement of the key provisions within the Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 represents an important consumer protection enhancement, and complements government’s ambitious insurance reform agenda.

“In particular, the Central Bank of Ireland is now required to provide a timely assessment of its price walking ban, a new pro-consumer measure, the first of its kind in the EU. Price walking, effectively a ‘loyalty penalty’, is where customers are charged higher premiums relative to the expected costs the longer they remain with an insurance provider.

To access the article in full, refer to the following link.

Source: www.irishlegal.com

Law strengthening protections for whistle-blowers enacted
The Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022 transposes the EU Whistleblowing Directive into Irish law and extends the scope of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 to provide protections for volunteers, shareholders, board members and job applicants for the first time.

The new law will require private sector organisations with 50 or more employees to establish formal channels and procedures for their employees to make protected disclosures, as is currently the case in the public sector, with the Workplace Relations Commission taking responsibility for monitoring and enforcement.

The law also provides for the establishment of a new Office of the Protected Disclosures Commissioner in the Office of the Ombudsman later this year.

The commissioner will direct protected disclosures to the most appropriate body when it is unclear which body is responsible to help ensure that all protected disclosures will be dealt with appropriately.

To access the article in full, refer to the following link.

Source: www.irishlegal.com