EMPLOYER RESOURCES NEWSLETTER - December 2017

Welcome to the latest issue of the Employer Resources Newsletter, where you will find in-depth and expertly researched and written articles (courtesy of Adare Human Resource Management) covering key areas of employment law and best practice. 

If there are any specific topics you would like covered in this publication, please forward your suggestions to Thomas McDonagh of Adare Human Resources Management: tmcdonagh@adarehrm.ie.

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Newsletter Content:
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• Employment Case Law – each month we review a number of interesting employment law cases and consider their implications for organisations. This month we look at Drug & Alcohol Testing.  Read more >>>
  
  
• Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Decisions – each month we look at and review the decisions from the WRC. This provides a valuable insight into the types of discrimination cases before the WRC and the decisions that are issued.  Read more >>>
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• What to Keep an Eye Out For – what is new, changing, potentially changing or what you may have missed.  Read more >>>​​

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Did you Know?

Force Majeure

Force Majeure leave is covered under the Parental Leave Acts, 1998 – 2013. Force majeure leave may be taken in respect of the illness or injury of one the following persons:

• A child or adoptive child of an Employee,
• A spouse or partner of an Employee,
• A person to whom the Employee is acting in loco parentis,
• A brother or sister of an Employee,
• A parent or grandparent of an Employee, or
• A person with whom the Employee lives in a relationship of domestic dependency. This includes any person who resides with a staff member who, in the event of their injury or illness, would reasonably rely on that Employee to make arrangements for the provision of care. This includes, but is not limited to same sex partners.

Force majeure leave entitlement is a maximum of 3 days’ paid leave in a 12 month period, subject to a maximum of 5 days’ leave in a 36 month period.  An Employer may record part of a working day as 1 force majeure day. 

There is no service requirement for an Employee wishing to avail of force majeure leave. However, in order for a situation to warrant the granting of force majeure leave it must meet the following criteria:
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• The presence of the Employee at the place where the ill or injured person is situated, must be deemed indispensable.  Case law indicates that where an Employee is instructed to look after a person by a medical professional, their presence may be indispensable.  However, the nature of the illness is not the only consideration.  In one case an Employee who believed that her child was very ill, but was mistaken, was allowed to avail of the day as force majeure leave, on grounds that her presence at the hospital was indispensable at the time, despite the fact that it transpired that her child was not actually ill.
• The requirement to take leave must be urgent and immediate.  An Employee should not generally be in a position to plan the leave, therefore it should not be used for events such as bringing a child to a pre-scheduled doctor’s appointment.