The Commencement Order for the Sick Leave Act 2022 was signed last week (29th November) by the Tánaiste, and Minister for of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar.

This means a new entitlement to paid sick leave from an employer is scheduled to come into effect in the New Year. Previously, no legal right existed to be paid while someone is on sick leave from work.

Most Fórsa members are already covered by the public service sick pay scheme, while the new scheme will see many Fórsa members working in the private sector afforded greater protection.

A campaign launched by ICTU in 2020, for legislation to make sick pay mandatory, won cross-party support and widespread public support.

ICTU’s head of social policy and employment affairs Laura Bambrick commented: “Up to now, Irish employment law did not require employers to pay their staff when absent due to illness or injury. Sick pay was treated as a perk of the job that employers could decide whether or not to include in a contract of employment.

“As a result, half of the workforce, over one million employees, are not covered for paid sick leave in their terms and conditions. The outbreak of Covid-19 clusters in meat processing plants among low wage essential workers put our failed voluntary approach to sick pay under the spotlight,” she said.

From 1st January 2023, workers will have a right to:

• Paid sick leave for up to three sick days per year, increasing to five days in 2024, seven days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026
• A rate of payment for statutory sick leave of 70% of normal wages to be paid by employers (up to a maximum €110 per day)
• Take a complaint to the WRC where they are not provided with a company sick pay scheme.

To be entitled to paid sick leave under the new scheme, an employee must be working for an employer for at least 13 weeks and will also need to be certified by a GP as unfit to work.

Announcing the implementation of the new scheme, the Tánaiste said it is a valuable public health measure, reducing the risk of workplace accidents and the likelihood of infectious disease transmission in the workplace.

He added that Ireland had been an outlier among developed countries in not providing for statutory paid sick leave: “The Sick Leave Act 2022 changes that and ensures that employees will have an entitlement to paid sick leave. It will be of greatest benefit to lower paid workers, many of whom cannot afford to miss work currently. We do not want people to feel they have to go to work when they are sick, for fear of loss of income," he said.

The legislation sets out the minimum standard that an employer must provide. The Tánaiste said it will not prevent employers having superior sick pay schemes of their own to attract and retain staff, or on foot of an agreement with a trade union.

See also: Everything you need to know about sick pay on the Congress website.