Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018
In short
This law updates various employment acts to improve employee protections, particularly regarding information provided at the start of employment, minimum payments, and working hours. It aims to ensure employees receive clear terms of employment promptly and introduces new rules for contract hours.
What it regulates
- The information employers must give to employees about their terms of employment.
- Minimum payments due to employees in certain situations.
- The prohibition of contracts that specify zero working hours in some cases.
- The introduction of "banded contract hours" for employees.
Who it concerns
- Employers, who must provide specific employment terms to their employees.
- Employees, who are entitled to receive clear information about their employment and certain protections.
Key points
- Employers must provide a written statement of certain employment terms to employees no later than 5 days after employment starts.
- This statement must include the employer's and employee's full names and addresses, the expected duration of temporary or fixed-term contracts, the rate or method of calculating pay, and the expected number of hours worked per normal day and week.
- An employer who fails to provide this statement within one month, without reasonable cause, is guilty of an offence.
- Providing false or misleading information in this statement is also an offence.
Legal text
Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 Skip to content Disclaimer Feedback Helpdesk Gaeilge Léim go dtí an t-ábhar Séanadh Aiseolas Deasc chabhrach English Gaeilge English Produced by the Office of the Attorney General Táirgthe ag Oifig an Ard-Aighne Home Legislation Acts of the Oireachtas Statutory Instruments Pre-1922 Legislation Constitution External Resources Bills (Houses of the Oireachtas) Iris Oifigiúil / Official Gazette Revised Acts (LRC) Classified List of Legislation (LRC) Translations (acts.
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- s)or rangeBliain nó blianta nó raon TypeCineál All Legislation Acts Statutory Instruments Advanced SearchCuardach Casta HomeBaile ActsAchtanna 2018 Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 Permanent Page URL View by SectionAmharc de réir Ailt View Full ActAmharc ar an Acht Iomlán Bill History Stair Bille Commencement, Amendments, SIs made under the Act Tosach Feidhme, Leasuithe, IRí arna ndéanamh faoin Acht Open PDFOscail PDF Print Full ActPriontáil an tAcht Iomlán Number 38 of 2018 EMPLOYMENT (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 2018 CONTENTS PART 1 Preliminary and General 1. Short title and commencement 2. Interpretation 3. Repeals PART 2 Amendment of Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 4. Amendment of Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 PART 3 Amendment of Act of 1994 5. Amendment of section 1 of Act of 1994 6. Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1994 7. Amendment of section 3 of Act of 1994 8. Amendment of section 4 of Act of 1994 9. Amendment of section 6 of Act of 1994 10. Offences 11. Protection against penalisation 12. Amendment of section 7 of Act of 1994 PART 4 Amendment of Act of 1997 13. Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1997 14. Amendment of section 5 of Act of 1997 15. Amendment of section 18 of Act of 1997 16. Banded hours 17. Protection against penalisation PART 5 Amendment of National Minimum Wage Act 2000 18. Amendment of National Minimum Wage Act 2000 PART 6 Amendment of Workplace Relations Act 2015 19. Amendment of Workplace Relations Act 2015 Acts Referred to Companies Act 2014 (No. 38) Industrial Relations Acts 1946 to 2015 National Minimum Wage Act 2000 (No. 5) National Minimum Wage Acts 2000 and 2015 Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 (No. 20) Payment of Wages Act 1991 (No. 25) Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act 1851 (14 & 15 Vict., c.93) Protected Disclosures Act 2014 (No. 14) Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 (No. 5) Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 (No. 10) Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015 Workplace Relations Act 2015 (No. 16) Number 38 of 2018 EMPLOYMENT (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT 2018 An Act to provide for a requirement that employers provide employees with certain terms of employment within a certain period after commencing employment; to impose sanctions for certain offences; to further provide for a minimum payment due to employees in certain circumstances; to prohibit contracts specifying zero as the contract hours in certain circumstances and to provide for the introduction of banded contract hours; to further provide for prohibition of penalisation and for those purposes to amend the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 and the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 ; to amend the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 ; to amend the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 ; to amend the Workplace Relations Act 2015 ; and to provide for related matters. [25th December , 2018] Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows: PART 1 Preliminary and General Short title and commencement 1.
- In this Act— “Act of 1994” means the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 ; “Act of 1997” means the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 ; “Minister” means the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection. Repeals
- The following are repealed: (a) paragraphs (a), (b), (f) and (g) of section 3
- a)An adjudication officer may, by giving notice in that behalf in writing to any person, require such person to attend at such time and place as is specified in the notice to give evidence in proceedings under this section or to produce to the adjudication officer any documents in his or her possession, custody or control that relate to any matter to which those proceedings relate. (
- b)A person to whom a notice under paragraph (
- a)is given shall be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as those to which he or she would be entitled if he or she were a witness in proceedings before the High Court. (
- c)A person to whom a notice under paragraph (
- a)has been given who— (
- i)fails or refuses to comply with the notice, or (
- ii)refuses to give evidence in proceedings to which the notice relates or fails or refuses to produce any document to which the notice relates, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a class E fine.”. PART 3 Amendment of Act of 1994 Amendment of section 1 of Act of 1994 5. Section 1
- a)the full names of the employer and the employee; (
- b)the address of the employer in the State or, where appropriate, the address of the principal place of the relevant business of the employer in the State or the registered office (within the meaning of the Companies Act 2014 ); (
- c)in the case of a temporary contract of employment, the expected duration thereof or, if the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the date on which the contract expires; (
- d)the rate or method of calculation of the employee’s remuneration and the pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 ; (
- e)the number of hours which the employer reasonably expects the employee to work— (
- i)per normal working day, and (
- ii)per normal working week.”, (
- b)by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1A): “(1B) Where a statement under subsection (1A) contains an error or omission, the statement shall be regarded as complying with the provisions of that subsection if it is shown that the error or omission was made by way of a clerical mistake or was otherwise made accidentally and in good faith.”, (
- c)by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection
- d)of subsection (1A) or paragraphs” for “paragraphs (g),”, (
- e)in subsection
- a)invoking any right conferred on him or her by this Act, (
- b)having in good faith opposed by lawful means an act that is unlawful under this Act, (
- c)giving evidence in any proceedings under this Act, or (
- d)giving notice of his or her intention to do any of the things referred to in the preceding paragraphs.
- a)suspension, lay-off or dismissal (including a dismissal within the meaning of the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015), or the threat of suspension, lay-off or dismissal, (
- b)demotion or loss of opportunity for promotion, (
- c)transfer of duties, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages or change in working hours, (
- d)imposition or the administering of any discipline, reprimand or other penalty (including a financial penalty), and (
- e)coercion or intimidation.”. Amendment of section 7 of Act of 1994 12. Section 7 of the Act of 1994 is amended— (
- a)by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection
- a)unless the employee has been in the continuous service of the employer for more than 1 month, or (
- b)if the employer concerned has been prosecuted for an offence under this Act in relation to the same contravention.”, (
- b)in subsection
- i)by substituting “section 3, 4, 5, 6 or 6C” for “section 3, 4, 5 or 6” in each place where it occurs, (
- ii)in paragraph (d), by the insertion of “in relation to a complaint of a contravention under section 3, 4, 5 or 6, and without prejudice to any order made under paragraph (e)” before “order the employer”, and (
- c)by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (d): “(
- e)in relation to a complaint of a contravention under section 6C, and without prejudice to any order made under paragraph (d), order the employer to pay to the employee compensation of such amount (if any) as the adjudication officer considers just and equitable having regard to all of the circumstances, but not exceeding 4 weeks’ remuneration in respect of the employee’s employment calculated in accordance with regulations under section 17 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 .”. PART 4 Amendment of Act of 1997 Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1997 13. Section 2
- Section 5 of the Act of 1997 is amended by the substitution of “16, 17 or 18A” for “16 or 17”. Amendment of section 18 of Act of 1997
- The Act of 1997 is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 18: “Prohibition of zero hours working practices in certain circumstances and minimum payment in certain circumstances 18.
- a)a certain number of hours (‘the contract hours’), (
- b)as and when the employer requires him or her to do so, or (
- c)both a certain number of hours and otherwise as and when the employer requires him or her to do so, and the requirement is not one that is held to arise by virtue only of the fact, if such be the case, of the employer having engaged the employee to do work of a casual nature for him or her on occasions prior to that week (whether or not the number of those occasions or the circumstances otherwise touching the engagement of the employee are such as to give rise to a reasonable expectation on his or her part that he or she would be required by the employer to do work for the employer in that week).
- a)work done in emergency circumstances, or (
- b)short-term relief work to cover routine absences for that employer.
- a)in a case falling within paragraph (
- a)of that subsection, at least 25 per cent of the contract hours, or (
- b)in a case falling within paragraph (
- b)or (
- c)of that subsection where work of the type which the employee is required to make himself or herself available to do has been done for the employer in that week, at least 25 per cent of the hours for which such work has been done in that week, then the employee shall, subject to this section, be entitled— (
- i)in a case where the employee has not been required to work for the employer at all in that week, to be paid by the employer the pay he or she would have received if he or she had worked for the employer in that week whichever of the following is less, namely— (I) the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (
- a)or (b), as the case may be, or (II) 15 hours, (
- ii)in a case where the employee has been required to work for the employer in that week less than the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (
- a)or (b), as the case may be (and that percentage of hours is less than 15 hours), to have his or her pay for that week calculated on the basis that he or she worked for the employer in that week the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (
- a)or (b), as the case may be, and the minimum payment shall be calculated as 3 times the national minimum hourly rate of pay within the meaning of the National Minimum Wage Acts 2000 and 2015 or 3 times the minimum hourly rate of remuneration established by an employment regulation order, for the time being in force, on each occasion that this occurs.
- a)if the fact that the employee concerned was not required to work in the week in question the percentage of hours referred to in paragraph (
- a)or (
- b)of that subsection, as the case may be— (
- i)constituted a lay-off or a case of the employee being kept on short-time for that week, or (
- ii)was due to exceptional circumstances or an emergency (including an accident or the imminent risk of an accident), the consequences of which could not have been avoided despite the exercise of all due care, or otherwise to the occurrence of unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the employer’s control, or (
- b)if the employee concerned would not have been available, due to illness or for any other reason, to work for the employer in that week the said percentage of hours.
- a)where there is no evidence to support the claim in relation to the hours worked in the reference period, (
- b)where there has been significant adverse changes to the business, profession or occupation carried on by the employer during or after the reference period, (
- c)in circumstances to which section 5 applies, or (
- d)where the average of the hours worked by the employee during the reference period were affected by a temporary situation that no longer exists.
- a)declare that the complaint was or, as the case may be, was not well founded, and (
- b)where the decision is that the complaint was well founded, require the employer to comply with this section and place the employee on the appropriate band of hours.
- a)invoking any right conferred on him or her by this Act, (
- b)having in good faith opposed by lawful means an act that is unlawful under this Act, (
- c)giving evidence in any proceedings under this Act, or (
- d)giving notice of his or her intention to do any of the things referred to in the preceding paragraphs.
- a)suspension, lay-off or dismissal (including a dismissal within the meaning of the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015), or the threat of suspension, lay-off or dismissal, (
- b)demotion or loss of opportunity for promotion, (
- c)transfer of duties, change of location of place of work, reduction in wages or change in working hours, (
- d)imposition or the administering of any discipline, reprimand or other penalty (including a financial penalty), and (
- e)coercion or intimidation.”. PART 5 Amendment of National Minimum Wage Act 2000 Amendment of National Minimum Wage Act 2000 18. The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 is amended— (
- a)by the substitution of the following section for section 14: “14. Subject to sections 15, 17, 18 and 41, an employee shall be remunerated by his or her employer in respect of the employee’s working hours in any pay reference period, at an hourly rate of pay that on average is not less than the national minimum hourly rate of pay.”, (
- b)by the substitution of the following section for section 15: “Prescription of percentages of hourly rates of pay 15.
- a)who have not attained the age of 18 years, (
- b)who are 18 years of age, and (
- c)who are 19 years of age.
- a)in the case of employees who have not attained the age of 18 years, less than 70 per cent, (
- b)in the case of employees who are 18 years of age, less than 80 per cent, and (
- c)in the case of employees who are 19 years of age, less than 90 per cent, of the national minimum hourly rate of pay.”. PART 6 Amendment of Workplace Relations Act 2015 Amendment of Workplace Relations Act 2015 19. The Workplace Relations Act 2015 is amended— (
- a)in section 36
- c)section 23 of the National Minimum Wage Act 2000 , or (
- d)section 6B of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 .”, and (
- b)in Part 1 of Schedule 5, by the substitution of “ Section 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 or 6C of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 ” for “ Section 3 , 4 , 5 or 6 of the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 ”. Privacy Statement Accessibility European Legislation Identifier (PDF) Open Data License Ráiteas Príobháideachais Inrochtaineacht Aitheantóir Eorpach Reachtaíochta (ELI) Ceadúnas Sonraí Oscailte Liosta Fianán © Government of Ireland. Oireachtas Copyright Material is reproduced with the permission of the Houses of the Oireachtas © Rialtas na hÉireann. Atáirgtear ábhar faoi Chóipcheart le cead ó Thithe an Oireachtais