Unions win paid sick leave for all
by Mark Corcoran
 
ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the new landmark legislation ended Ireland’s failed voluntary approach to sick pay.
ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the new landmark legislation ended Ireland’s failed voluntary approach to sick pay.

Unions have won the right for workers to get paid sick leave after new legislation passed through both houses of the Oireachtas earlier this week.

 

Before now, almost no worker had a legal right to paid sick leave, though collective agreements negotiated by Fórsa and other unions meant that about half of all employees in Ireland had access to paid sick leave.

 

Fórsa welcomed the new legal rights, which were the result of a sustained trade union campaign led by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).

 

The new legislation will initially give a minimum entitlement of three days paid sick leave a year. This will rise to ten days in 2025. It will be paid by employers at 70% of gross salary or up to €110 a day.

 

Employees will have to present a medical certificate to avail of statutory sick pay. And they don’t become eligible until they’ve worked for their employer for 13 weeks.

 

Ireland was previously one of few advanced economies in Europe without a mandatory sick leave entitlement. Almost all European countries legally require employers to continue to pay staff, in full or in part, when they are if sick and unable to work for a period.

 

ICTU general secretary Patricia King said the new landmark legislation ended Ireland’s failed voluntary approach to sick pay.

 

“This will be an enduring positive legacy of the pandemic. Up to now, Ireland was one of just a handful of wealthy countries globally that did not guarantee workers paid sick leave from their employer when unfit for work.

 

“Paid sick days were treated as a perk of the job that employers could decide whether to include in a contract of employment. As a result, over one million employees, are not covered for sick pay in their terms and conditions,” she said.

 

It’s never been more important – or easier – to get the protections and benefits of union membership. Join Fórsa HERE or contact us HERE.

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