All employees, regardless of the length of their employment, will be entitled to statutory sick pay under the terms of a government plan approved by the Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment.
The committee has published its pre-legislative scrutiny report of the General Scheme of the Sick Pay Bill, which it said would create a "new right to sick pay" and provide "a minimum level of protection to low paid employees".
If passed in the Dail, the legislation will be legally enforceable through the Workplace Relations Commission and the courts, with employers paying incapacitated staff at a rate of 70% of their daily wage, subject to a daily maximum of €110.
As reported on Monday, statutory sick pay will be phased in over a four-year period, starting with entitlements to three days pay per year in 2022, rising to five days payable in 2023, seven days payable in 2024, and finally 10 days payable from 2025 onwards.
An exemption has been created for businesses "that can demonstrate to the Labour Court that they cannot genuinely afford to make the payment," similar to the a provision in relation to the payment of wages in the Minimum Wage Act.
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Employees will also be able to claim a rebate on the cost of a medical certification where required, but Sinn Féin's Maurice Quinlivan said the committee had concerns about the requirement of medical certification "as an additional obstacle in accessing this important right".
"The committee also realises the careful balance of an employer’s right to request medical certification in certain cases where the timing and frequency of an illness may be questioned and the cost burden that will arise for employers, in particular small business employers, with the phased graduation of days in the coming years, up to 2025," he said.
Quinlivan also described Ireland as "an outlier as one of the few advanced countries in Europe with no mandatory sick pay scheme.
"At present, there is no statutory obligation on an employer to pay for a medically certified absence of an employee due to illness. While many employers do provide such sick pay, employees who do not receive such sick pay are disadvantaged."
(Pic: Getty Images)
