Employment Law & Benefits

Under current employment law in Ireland, the national minimum wage in Ireland is €12.70 per hour.

There is no legal obligation on an employer to set up a pension under the current pensions law in Ireland. However, an employer is obliged to facilitate an employee in accessing a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA). An employer is not obliged to contribute to a PRSA. In the second half of 2024, the Irish Government intends to roll out an auto-enrolment pensions scheme for Irish workers. When introduced, the scheme will see employers automatically enrolling employees (who are not already enrolled in an occupational pension scheme) into a pension scheme which they would then be obliged to contribute to.

Find out more about our team of specialist pensions lawyers.

Employment laws in Ireland place an obligation on employers to provide the following mandatory policies:

• Disciplinary Procedure
• Grievance Procedure
• Bullying & Harassment Policy
• Safety Statement
• Data Privacy Notice, and
• A Whistleblowing Policy is also required for employers with 50 employees or more.

Reasons for termination which may be deemed fair under employment law in Ireland include:

• Dismissal due to performance, conduct, capacity

To avoid an unfair dismissal claim in Ireland, an employer must ensure that there is a good reason for the dismissal and that it has followed fair procedures leading up to the dismissal. Employees have the right not to be dismissed, or otherwise penalised, for making a “protected disclosure”, a complaint about health and safety or to be dismissed as a result of any of the nine grounds of discrimination.

• Redundancy

Redundancies occur when the employee’s role no longer exists, i.e., business closures, restructurings, or a change of job requirements. Employees with more than 2 years’ service may be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment. The statutory redundancy payment is 2 weeks’ statutory redundancy payment in Ireland, capped at €600 per week, for every year of service plus a bonus of 1 week’s pay. Many employers make an ex-gratia payment or goodwill payment on top of an employee’s statutory entitlement. There is a separate statutory process to follow for large scale redundancies. We have shared top tips for employers implementing redundancies.

• Retirement

While there is no statutory compulsory retirement age in Ireland, employers can have a mandatory retirement age in a contract provided it is objectively justified by reference to a legitimate aim, and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.

Employees are entitled to statutory sick pay for up to 5 days per year. This will increase to 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026.

Examples of statutory leave in Ireland include:

• Sick leave
• Health & safety leave
• Maternity leave
• Adoptive leave
• Parental leave
• Carer's leave
• Force majeure leave
• Paternity leave, and
• Parent’s leave

The statutory rights of employees in Ireland include those related to the national minimum wage (€12.70 per hour), working hours – a maximum of 48 hours per week averaging over a 4-month period, rest breaks, safety in the workplace and minimum notice periods.