A NEW legislation introduced by government will give employees the right to avail of sick pay starting in 2022.
The proposal, brought before Cabinet yesterday by Leo Varadkar, hopeS to expand sick pay rights to all workers guaranteeing them a set number of sick days per year.
😷 New sick pay scheme will be phased in over four years – starting with three days in 2022, five days in 2023 and seven days in 2024. Employers will eventually cover the cost of 10 sick days per year in 2025. pic.twitter.com/bi2aqdSnEX
— Niall Collins (@NiallCollinsTD) June 9, 2021
The legislation aims to provide security for workers in low-paying positions or those in businesses that do not offer a sick pay scheme.
Employees and employers may reach a collective agreement on pay schemes through union negotiations and collective agreement.
Leo Varadker has previously expressed his intent to introduce statutory sick pay which will be phased in over a period of time to give employers time to adjust to the changes and additional costs
The scheme will begin in 2022 with three payable sick days per year, increasing to five in 2023, seven in 2024 and capping at 10 in 2025. This standard will become the minimum number of paid sick days a company must provide, with the liberty of providing more sick days at their own discretion.
The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has said that it is “conscious of any extra costs on micro-enterprises and small businesses”.
Ultimately the scheme will provide workers with ten days sick pay a year by 2025. Sick pay will be capped at 70% of the employee’s wage subject to a threshold of €110 a day.
This figure can be adjusted over time in line with inflation and changing incomes.
Varadker has said that these cost will be payed in full by employers and will not receive state funding. He said “That is why we’re adopting this approach of phasing it in over a number of years, recognising that this is an additional cost of employers, which some of them will find hard to meet. But I would bear in mind and I’d ask employers to consider that, during the course of the pandemic, employers and small employers in particular have received exceptional support from the State from taxpayer”
To avail of this sick pay scheme employees will need to provide a medical certificate and have been under employment for a minimum of 6 months.
