The Labour Court will convene on Monday (16th December) for a hearing on various issues related to new public service certified sick leave arrangements, which are due to come into force next year. Meanwhile, legislation to establish the new scheme is currently before the Oireachtas and the speed of its progress will determine whether or not the Government meets the implementation target of 1^st January for most public servants.

IMPACT and other unions are trying to ensure that criteria for determining whether an illness is deemed ‘critical’ take account of the particular circumstances of disability, pregnancy-related illness and mental health. The Court will make a binding determination on these issues because no agreement has been reached between management and unions.

The distinction between critical and non-critical conditions is important because, in future, paid leave for non-critical illnesses will be halved to three months on full pay, followed by three months on half pay in any four-year period. IMPACT and other unions ensured that current arrangements – six months on full pay, followed by six months on half pay – will remain in cases of critical illness.

Negotiations about how this will be applied have been underway for some weeks, and have been reported in previous bulletins.

Unions have already ensured that existing schemes for occupational illnesses or injuries will remain unchanged.

The new arrangements are now expected to apply from 1st March 2014 across most of the public service, including the gardai. The only exception will be the education sector, where the new arrangements will come into force at the start of the next school year.