Legal News

EU-wide guidelines on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification The European Commission, working alongside the European Institute for Gender Equality ( EIGE), has refreshed EU-wide guidance on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification, signalling another preparatory milestone before the EU Pay Transparency Directive is carried over into domestic law. The guidance can be accessed here: EU-wide guidelines on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification: Step-by-step toolkit | European Institute for Gender Equality. Member States, Ireland among them, will have to adapt this guidance into national, step-by-step toolkits to support employers in fulfilling their obligations under the Directive. The Pay Transparency Directive must be implemented into Irish legislation on or before 7 June 2026. However, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality......

This roadmap sets out a checklist for employers to use as they ready themselves for full transposition on 2 December 2026. Although national implementing laws are in progress, Irish employers can already move on the confirmed duties under the EU Platform Work Directive. 1. Confirm whether your organisation falls within scope First, employers should assess if they fit the Directive’s definition of a digital labour platform, covering: services delivered at least in part by electronic means services provided upon the end-user’s request the organisation of paid work carried out by individuals the use of automated monitoring or decision-making systems Checklist actions: map all technology-enabled work allocation models identify any automated tools used for allocation, evaluation, monitoring or decisions document borderline or hybrid business models (mixed gig/standard operations), i.e. areas not clearly a digital labour platform but that may...

Part‑time work stands alongside other flexible work options, such as job sharing, compressed hours and remote working, all of which have become more widespread in recent years as the COVID‑19 pandemic reshaped where and how people work. Part‑time staff still account for a significant share of the Irish labour market, with 20.6% of the workforce engaged on a part‑time basis. As 67% of part‑time workers are female, the Code also has scope to promote gender equality in the workplace and encourage greater female participation across all levels of the labour market. The updated Code is underpinned by the Protection of Employees ( Part‑ Time Work) Act 2001 ( Ireland) ( PE( PTW) A 2001 ( IRL)), which safeguards part‑time employees from being treated less favourably than comparable full‑time employees, unless there are objective grounds to justify this. PE( PTW) A 2001 ( IRL)...

The FLR The FLR took effect on 13 December 2024, with most rules applying from 14 December 2027. It bans economic operators from placing on the market, making available, or exporting from the EU any goods made with forced labour. The FLR adopts the International Labour Organisation’s 1930 Forced Labour Convention definition. Under Article 2, forced labour covers any work or service demanded from someone under the threat of a penalty where the person has not offered themselves freely. The FLR’s definition also explicitly captures compelled child labour. For these rules, an economic operator can be any person, company or undertaking, whether established in the EU or elsewhere. The ban spans all products, regardless of sector, origin, or whether production occurs inside or outside the EU. Enforcement will be carried out by competent authorities appointed by each Member State, which will...

It has recently emerged that the Irish government has accepted that the EU Pay Transparency Directive ( PTD) will not be fully in place by the 7 June 2026 deadline. Rollout will proceed 'on a phased basis'. Although the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (the Department), which bears responsibility for transposing the Directive, has noted that elements of the PTD are reflected through the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021, numerous features of the Irish implementation remain uncertain, and no concrete implementing bill has been produced so far, with no published draft available to date and ongoing uncertainty......

Introduction The EU Pay Transparency Directive (the Directive) took effect in June 2023, with Ireland required to bring the regime into national law by 7 June 2026. It introduces wide-ranging reforms, including gender pay gap reporting across every EU member state, obligations to conduct joint pay assessments, a prohibition on pay secrecy, and enhanced access to pay information for workers and applicants. Transposition of the Directive The Directive has not yet been enacted in Ireland, though early steps towards transposition have begun. In January 2025, the General Scheme of the Equality ( Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 was issued, containing two measures designed to boost pre-employment transparency and to transpose Article 5 of the Directive, which concerns pay transparency before hiring. As the General Scheme is presently under revision, it is uncertain whether the text in its current form will progress to a formal bill and, in time, to law. In...

My Future Fund The State’s new automatic retirement savings scheme, ‘ My Future Fund’, has attracted significant media attention over the past week. While AE is due to commence within the next few weeks, the principal catalyst is that the Department of Social Protection (the Department) has recently sent letters to various organisations cautioning about the risk of employers ‘hindering’ staff from joining My Future Fund. Specifically, the Department stated that compulsory enrolment into a company pension scheme, where this is not an explicit contractual term and only modest employer contributions (for example, 1%) are payable, would be treated by the Department as an offence of hindering. These communications have sparked engagement with the Department by employer representative groups and stakeholders across the Irish pensions sector, including the Irish Association of Pension Funds (the IAPF). From that engagement it is evident that...

Employment and Disputes & Investigations— The Board’s role in the aftermath: Lessons from the Coldplay concert scandal After the ‘kiss-cam’ lingered on a pair at a Coldplay concert, a previously discreet workplace relationship between the CEO and the Chief of People at a US start-up ignited public and online discussion. Attention quickly pivoted to the board: what, if any, professional fallout would follow for the two senior executives? How would the board contain reputational damage and preserve confidence among the public, shareholders and employees? Although workplace romances are not unlawful, they can create substantial legal and reputational exposure for employers. Legal and reputational risks Workplace relationships may trigger a spectrum of legal concerns, including allegations of harassment, discrimination and conflicts of interest: Increased risk of harassment and discrimination: a central concern is the likelihood of harassment or discrimination complaints in the workplace, noting the very broad...

Relevant employers are required to place their report on their own website, or, where no website exists, ensure it can be inspected by staff and members of the public during standard business hours......

Background The question of employment status has taken centre stage in Irish employment and tax law following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Karshan and the release of the updated Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status (the Code), produced after a review by an interdepartmental group including the Department of Social Protection, Revenue and the Workplace Relations Commission ( WRC). For fuller analysis of Karshan and the Code, see our earlier briefings: Supreme Court delivers reformulation and restatement of law in Domino’s Pizza case updated Code of Practice on determining employment status now published In Karshan, the Supreme Court clarified the governing approach to differentiating employees from independent contractors, introducing a structured five-step assessment. The ruling has reshaped how employers, advisers and decision-makers evaluate working relationships, and the Code brings these principles together as a practical guide for compliance and risk control. Revenue has also issued its own...

The draft report characterises algorithmic management as the deployment of automated tools—including those using artificial intelligence—to supervise, evaluate, or take decisions that impact workers and solo self‑employed individuals. It builds on a Commission study released in March 2025, which concluded that, although current EU rules, such as Regulation 2016/679, the General Data Protection Regulation ( EU GDPR), mitigate certain risks to workers arising from algorithmic management, other risks persist. That study further acknowledges that the AI Act does not confer dedicated rights on workers where AI is applied, a point flagged as problematic. The draft also attaches proposed wording for a new directive governing algorithmic management at work. The European Parliament has not, at this stage, given its approval to the draft report yet......

EU Pay Transparency Directive The EU Pay Transparency Directive (the Directive) took effect in June 2023, and Ireland has until 7 June 2026 to put the new framework in place. It introduces sweeping, EU-wide requirements, including gender pay gap disclosure across all EU Member States, prohibitions on pay confidentiality, and expanded access to information for workers and applicants alike. Although Ireland has not yet formally transposed the Directive, the initial phase of transposition has begun. In January 2025, the General Scheme of the Equality ( Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 was issued, containing two measures specifically designed to enhance pre-employment transparency and to give effect to Article 5 of the Directive. As the General Scheme is now under revision, it is uncertain whether the current draft, in its present form, will progress to a formal bill and, ultimately, legislation. In addition, the...

Recent years have seen a sharp rise in workplace investigations, a pattern that shows little sign of slowing. This increase largely stems from the mounting complexity of grievances confronting employers within an ever-changing, evolving work setting. In this climate, it is vital that investigations are carried out rigorously, impartially and efficiently, as any failure can result in a flawed process and leave employers exposed to potential litigation. In this article, we consider some of the questions clients ask most frequently about managing a workplace investigation and how best to navigate these challenging situations, offering practical pointers on approach and process in practice. 1. What should an employer do if an employee raises concerns but does not wish to proceed with a formal complaint? This issue arises regularly in practice and is challenging for employers, since in many instances an investigation cannot commence without a formal...

The Employment Equality Act 1998 ( Section 20A) ( Gender Pay Gap Information) ( Amendment) Regulations 2025 are now enshrined in law...

Last summer, we shared an update on the Employment Permits Act 2024 (the Act), which was enacted on 25 June 2024 and commenced in September 2024. A central element of the Act is the introduction of the Seasonal Employment Permit (the SEP), added to the employment permits regime to support the hiring of non‑nationals in roles that recur seasonally. The SEP was anticipated to begin this year. The ‘ Employment Permits ( Amendment) ( Seasonal Employment) Regulations 2025’ (the 2025 Regulations) have now been released and took effect on 19 February 2025......

The Pensions Authority (the Authority) has issued a Findings Report (the Report) on its 2024 supervisory activities, a worthwhile read for pension scheme trustees and their advisers. The Report sets out the results of supervisory reviews of master trusts, defined benefit ( DB) and defined contribution ( DC) schemes, alongside compliance audit and inspection findings. Though there is much to absorb, the Authority’s central message is unmistakable: trustees must put members first by enhancing governance, risk management, operations and communications. Governance: addressing conflicts of interest and board practices In its evaluation of scheme governance, the Authority highlighted worries about conflicts of interest, particularly within master trusts closely connected to their founder organisations. The Report records that master trust trustees often neglected to include service providers or key function holders from the founder group in their conflicts of interest register. It also found instances where master trust deeds...

On the morning of 17 April 2025, EHRC chair Kishwer Falkner said the regulator is ‘working at pace’ to deliver a refreshed code of conduct this summer, following the Supreme Court’s ruling that clarified transgender people do not have a legal entitlement to enter single‑sex spaces that match their chosen gender. In response to the judgment, legislators and employers have similarly been urged to revisit existing legal guidance and related policies. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, stated that the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010) — the principal anti‑discrimination statute — and the Gender Recognition Act 2004 ought to be examined to ensure they prevent discrimination and do not enable ‘social engineering’. ‘ These laws were written more than 20 years ago, when the world was different. A lot of people are trying to change what the law means,’...

Background This appeal concerns the Appellant’s challenge to the legality of statutory guidance from the Respondent, which treats a GRC confirming a person’s gender as female as bringing them within the Eq A 2010 definition of ‘woman’. The Gender Representation on Public Boards ( Scotland) Act 2018, an Act of the Scottish Parliament ( ASP 2018), sets targets to boost the share of women on public boards. Originally, ASP 2018 defined ‘woman’ to include those with the protected characteristic of gender reassignment: individuals living as women and proposing to undergo, undergoing, or having undergone a process of gender reassignment. In 2022, following a challenge by the Appellant ( FWS1), the Inner House held that this statutory definition was unlawful, as it addressed matters beyond the Scottish Parliament’s legislative competence. After FWS1, the Respondent published revised statutory guidance, which is now under...

When the statutory entitlement to seek remote and flexible ways of working was introduced, employees largely viewed it as a sign of shifting post-pandemic workplace norms. Yet recent WRC decisions have explored the boundaries of the remedies available to employees under this legislation. Together with moves by some public and private sector employers to increase office attendance, this has triggered a wider debate on the outlook for hybrid work in Ireland... Background Under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 (the Act), all employees may request a remote working arrangement ( RWA); if approved, it can commence once six months’ service with the employer has been completed. The Act also enables certain categories of employees to request flexible working for caring duties. Following the Act, the Code of Practice on the Right to Request Flexible and Remote Working (the Code of...

In 2020, Debenhams confirmed it would shut all Irish stores, resulting in the loss of more than 1,000 roles. A collective redundancy process followed, alongside a widely publicised dispute over redundancy entitlements, which sparked pickets at Debenhams’ sites for just over 400 days. A deal on redundancy terms was eventually concluded in May 2021. Nearly 800 employees involved pursued complaints before the Workplace Relations Commission ( WRC) under sections 9 and 10 of the Protection of Employment Acts, which regulate an employer’s duty to furnish information to, and consult with, employee representatives in a collective redundancy context. Section 9 Section 9 specifies that an employer (or responsible person [1]) must begin consultations with employees’ representatives when proposing collective redundancies. Those consultations must start as early as possible and, in any case, at least 30 days before the first dismissal notice is issued...