This episode of the Employment Rights Ireland Podcast looks at unfair dismissals, fair procedure, wrongful dismissal, etc.

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This podcast episode gives an introduction to constructive dismissal in Ireland.

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Are you starting up a small business?

Or perhaps you already have a business and intend taking on your first employee?

Maybe you are a non Irish company intending to employ someone in Ireland for the 1st time?

By the end of this piece you will be absolutely clear as to your responsibilities for registration as an employer and what forms to use.

If you pay wages in excess of €8 per week for a full time employee or €2 per week for a part timer, you must register as an employer for PAYE purposes. You must also notify the Revenue Commissioners within 9 days of your name and address.

Where your business is in the form of a company and there are no employees, you must still register as an employer for the payment of directors’ income. This applies regardless of where the directors live or carry out their duties.

If you employ an au pair or nanny, you must also register unless

Fill out the appropriate form and send it in to Revenue. The forms are:

These forms can be downloaded from the Revenue website here.

If you have not registered as an employer, and you should have, Revenue can register you compulsorily and let you know.

If you cease to have employees you must notify Revenue within 14 days and complete an end of year return.

If the business changes ownership the new employer should let Revenue know; a new employer registration number may be needed.

It can happen that the same employer can require different employment registration numbers. For example:

This episode looks at

You either love them or hate them.

What’s one person’s great opportunity to gain some valuable experience is another’s exploitation of the vulnerable, needy, and naive.

Regardless of your view, this piece will look at the legal aspects of internships.

Well known internships in Ireland include the JobBridge scheme and various FAS initiatives. Both of these internship schemes are specifically excluded from the rigours of employment law in Ireland.

But the internship offered by a private business or company has no such protection. It is this type of internship that I am writing about here.

The first important thing to understand is what an internship is and what is an intern.

Well, there is no statutory definition. And the key point for an employer to consider is whether their “intern” will actually be considered to be an employee with all of the employment law rights that flows from that.

An intern is someone who is engaged in a business or profession to observe and gain experience of a particular role, business, or industry. Many internships are unpaid, many are badly paid, and many may have the payment of “expenses” (eg for travel) to the intern.

The terms and conditions of internships vary widely from business to business but for an employer one of the most important things is whether the intern could be considered to be an employee or not..

Probably the most important factor in establishing whether an intern is an employee or not is whether he/she works or merely observes-work v education as it were.

If he/she works then he/she may well be an employee and be entitled to be paid, holidays, rest breaks, and so forth.

Elsewhere on this site you can read about the tests that are used to indicate whether someone is an employee or not.

But the vital thing to know is that regardless of what the parties say, a Court or tribunal will look at the facts of each individual situation and decide whether it is a contract of service (employee) or contract for services (independent contractor).

The same sort of analysis will be used if there is a dispute with the internship.

The National Minimum Wage Act, 2000 defines a contract of employment very broadly as follows:

contract of employment” means—

Accordingly it is clear that even though it has not yet been tested in Ireland, an intern could well successfully claim to be entitled to be paid under this legislation, provided he/she can show that he/she was an employee.

If the intern can show that he/she was an employee, not only will he/she have the right to be paid but he will gain the full protection of various employment law legislation governing holidays, rest breaks, anti discrimination, equality of opportunity etc.

Regardless of your views on internships, they can be incredibly useful for the business and the intern.

Following the tips above means that both parties know what the ground rules are and make the engagement more beneficial and meaningful for intern and business/company.

If any of the issues raised above impact you contact us.

A young man, worried about losing his job, contacted me this week.

He only has about 11 months service in the job and was concerned that the employer was getting ready to dismiss him before he had the necessary 12 months service for the protection of unfair dismissal legislation.

Let me explain.

In order to have the statutory protection of the Unfair Dismissals Acts an employee needs to have 12 months continuous service in the job.

This guy has been called to a “meeting” to discuss his performance. There has already been a series of these meetings with heavy hints that these probationary review meetings were leading to one inevitable conclusion~dismissal.

The employer has made it quite clear that any dismissal will be carried out just prior to 12 months service being acquired. And will have the comfort of knowing that the employee is not protected under the Unfair Dismissals Act.

There is only one (major) problem with this~when I looked at the contract of employment it provides for 6 weeks notice of termination of employment.

And most importantly it provides for 1 months notice during the probationary period.

The key point here is that a dismissal does not take place until the end of the notice period, not when notice is given.

So my contact will almost certainly have 12 months service.

And the protection of the Unfair Dismissals Acts.

The employer wouldn’t have had much difficulty here, if his contract of employment provided for, say, one week’s notice during probation. But it doesn’t.

And he inevitably will face either

Anyway, the moral of the story is that little mistakes can cost big money.

And a well drafted contract of employment is worth every penny.

There is no requirement for employees to undergo testing for intoxicants under existing legislation- the SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE AT WORK ACT 2005.

Neither is there an obligation on employers to test employees for intoxicants.

Section 13 (1) (c) provides for the making of regulations for the testing of employees:

(c) if reasonably required by his or her employer, submit to any appropriate, reasonable and proportionate tests for intoxicants by, or under the supervision of, a registered medical practitioner who is a competent person, as may be prescribed,

However no regulations have yet been made so this clause does not apply.

Intoxicants are defined in the SAFETY, HEALTH AND WELFARE AT WORK ACT 2005 as

“intoxicant” includes alcohol and drugs and any combination of drugs or of drugs and alcohol;

It is clear therefore that over the counter medicines and/or prescribed drugs are included.

The employer’s obligations under health and safety legislation are set out in section 8 of the Act and are covered here. If intoxication at work is identified as a hazard it must be addressed in the employer’s safety statement.

If the employer cannot have the employee tested, what action can he take?

If the employee’s behaviour presents a danger to himself or others the employer can remove the employee from the situation.

While there is no obligation on the employer to test for intoxicants to obtain evidence, testing may be a company policy. If this is the case then any testing would need to be carried out in accordance with recognised standards. It would also need to be included in the employment contract or collective agreement.

The key point for employers is that where an employee appears to be “under the weather” that he is removed from the workplace if the employer considers him to be a risk to himself or others.

Employees too have obligations in respect of intoxicants in the workplace; these would include the reporting of a colleague who appeared to be under the influence of an intoxicant and who is a danger to himself or others.

Employers must deal with the issue of intoxicants in the workplace sensitively. Whether for example you would act on the evidence/opinion of one person or not would depend on the potential risk and danger.

In conclusion, it may be prudent to have an “intoxicants policy” in your workplace. We have supplied such policies (and others) to employers. If your workplace would benefit from one we would be happy to supply one at a very competitive price.

The law concerning young workers in employment in Ireland is set out in the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996.

The Act aims to protect the health of young workers and to ensure a young person’s education is not put at risk during the school year.

The Act provides:

There are additional regulations made under the Act concerning the employment of young persons. The most important ones are:

Some important points concerning the employment of young persons:

-Doing light work during the school holidays – they must have at least 21 days off work during this time

-As part of an approved work experience or educational programme where the work is not harmful to their health, safety or development

5.  Children aged 15 may do 8 hours a week light work in school term time. The maximum working week for children outside school term time is 35 hours or up to 40 hours if they are on approved work experience.

6. Employers must give employees aged under 18 years a copy of the official summary of the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, along with other details of their terms of employment within one month of taking up a job. Employers with employees under 18 must also display the official summary of the Act at a place in their workplace where it can be easily read.

7. Employers found guilty of an offence under the Act are liable on summary conviction to a fine of up to €1,904.61. Continuing breaches of the Act can attract a fine of up to €317.43 a day.