Nine key takeaways, and two observations, from a detailed read of Ireland’s draft Remote Working Bill.
1️⃣ Employers will be obliged to create a formal Remote Working Policy and ensure it’s communicated to and accessible by employees. It will be an offence not to have one.
2️⃣ Formal requests for RW can be made by all employees who have >6 months’ service.
3️⃣ The employee will have an onus to provide specific detail in their request (location; start date; number of days; etc.).
4️⃣ In the request, the employee will also have to provide a self-assessment of their proposed working arrangements, covering areas such as data protection, internet access and ergonomics.
5️⃣ Employers must respond in writing within the timeframe stipulated in their RW policy (which per the Bill can be no longer than 12 weeks).
6️⃣ Businesses may decline the request on “business grounds” – the draft Bill provides a list of 13 suggested grounds. If declined, an employee must wait another 12 months before making a further request.
7️⃣ Employees will have the right to appeal a declined request to their employer, on three specified grounds which are strictly procedural in nature (i.e. no grounds to appeal on the substance or merits of the employer’s decision).
8️⃣ Employees will have the right to a further appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission, but only in relation to a breach of procedure.
9️⃣ The WRC can adjudicate and, if they find in the employee’s favour, award them up to 4 weeks’ pay in compensation and direct the employer to respond to the request (but with no jurisdiction to adjudicate on the basis of the employer’s decision).
OBSERVATION 1
If the Bill comes into law as currently envisaged, businesses that are opposed to facilitating Remote Work will have no problem maintaining that position, albeit with a certain amount of effort and paperwork.
OBSERVATION 2
If the last two years have shown us anything, it’s that remote working can be made to work. Many businesses are moving to facilitate it, and over 90% of workers want to work remotely some or all of the time. While the draft Bill doesn’t place any obligations on employers to “allow” remote working, those who don’t do so will risk losing talent to competitors who do.
Contact Us
For more information on the Remote Working Bill, or to understand how we can support your organisation’s Remote or Hybrid Working strategy, contact us at hello@ireganadvisors.ie.