Monthly Archives: June 2015

The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan T.D., published the Finance Bill 2013 on 13^th February 2013. The Bill provided for the Budget day announcement that, effective 1^st July 2013, Maternity Benefit, Adoptive Benefit and Health & Safety Benefit payments will be treated as taxable income. As with all other Social Welfare payments; Maternity, Adoptive and Health and Safety Benefit will remain exempt from Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) and Universal Social Charge (USC). 

 

This measure will mean that women entitled to these benefits will pay the same level of income tax while in receipt of the benefit as they do when they are working.

Once the benefit is approved by the Department of Social Protection, Revenue will be notified of the applicable figure and will reduce the relevant allowances (tax credit and standard rate cut-off point in respect of the employee) accordingly. Revenue will notify the employer or pension provider of the applicable adjustment by means of a new P2C in respect of the employee. The P2C is the employer copy of the employee tax certificate.

The issuance of a revised P2C is the only thing that the employer needs to be actively aware of in relation to maternity or adoptive benefit. However, since the employer pays the first 21 days of the Health and Safety benefit the new taxation provided for in the Finance Bill may have more of an impact on the employer and the payroll administrator here.

The net income paid to the recipient for the period is going to be reduced by the new taxation. Consequently, one significant result of this new provision might be mothers/expecting mothers availing of reduced periods of maternity/adoptive leave.

For organisations that require face-to-face, on-site HR support, we provide the services listed below, which have been categorised into five distinct components. Depending on the level of your requirement, we do this by either putting HR specialist(s) into your business on a permanent basis, or we provide you with full remote back-up complemented by regular site visits.

1. Legal

It is critically important that when one addresses any of the core HR activities, they must be carried out within the confines of the legal framework that exists. We will advise you to ensure that you are complying with all current legislation.

2. Mediation Services

We provide a full range of mediation services whereby we resolve many internal employee and industrial relations issues that arise within the workplace. This can include direct negotiations with solicitors, third parties and trade unions.

3. Staff Retention and Benefits

We assist you to ensure that you do what is necessary to keep your employees within the organisation. This covers the entire area of salary planning, benefits planning, benefits administration, performance management and face-to-face group meetings, or one-on-one discussions.

4. Recruitment

This involves us in the hiring process from the very beginning, from writing up job profiles and descriptions to advertising, arranging interviews, checking references, and issuing contracts.

5. Training and Development

The service we offer in this space includes identifying training requirements, driving the training programme and the training vendors, right through to succession planning, key people identification, skills identification and management development.

The Smart Solution for Businesses - We aim to ensure that you, our client, are not constrained by the legislation that exists today, but are aware of it and acting in accordance with it.

The service includes salary surveys to support your salary planning and review process, design and implementation of your policies and procedures and inclusion of these in the company handbook.

As part of this service, a company is provided with on-site representation approximately once per month.

In this era of increased employee litigation the Labour Court has thousands of cases waiting to be heard - In a huge number of these cases the employer will end up paying substantial sums in compensation to employees (or former employees). In a lot of instances the award will be made as a result of the employer failing to follow appropriate procedures when dealing with an employee.

Unfortunately, the onus is on the employer to prove that he or she acted in a fair manner - the motives behind his or her decisions will be scrutinised. Everything must be justified.

On a daily basis we hear of Unfair Dismissal cases succeeding - the rulings are regularly shocking... even to Irish Employment Law professionals. We see employers being forced to pay huge sums due to the occurrence of harassment/bullying - often the employer is not even aware that such an activity is taking place - yet it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that this type of situation does not arise in their workplace.

A recent example of harassment in the workplace occurred in a fast food company in Blackpool, Cork where two employees were subjected to sexual harassment by another employee.

An Equality Tribunal ruling found that a lesbian couple, who both worked for a fast food restaurant in Cork, were forced to endure obscene remarks and queries about their relationship and sexuality from another employee at the branch.

The tribunal found that management at the restaurant failed in their duty to take the appropriate steps to protect the women and consequently were instructed to pay €15,000 to the couple.

Under Irish Employment Legislation it is the duty of the employer to provide a workplace that is safe for lesbian women and gay men to be open about their sexuality.

This is something that all employers need to pay close attention to - this kind of sum could sink a small company - we heard yesterday that Ireland's economy is receding again - We know the whole area can seem like a minefield but companies simply can't afford to be careless when it comes to employee related matters. It is crucial to keep on top of the regular updates in Legislation.

Did yo know that parental leave has recently been increased from 14 to 18 weeks?

Did you know that Maternity, Adoptive and Health and Safety Benefits are taxable as of 1st July 2013?

The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) is carrying out inspections in Irish workplaces and imposing fines where employers are in breach of Irish Employment regulations.

The employer is legally required to have contracts of employment in place with all employee who have accrued 2 months' service - employers also need to have employee handbooks in place.

Without employment documentation and clear and appropriate policies and procedures in place the company is not insulated against the risk of a fine - many employers are exposed at the minute and need some guidance to ensure they are protected in the future.

We are Irish Employment Legislation specialists and are offering complimentary consultations/audits to employers in Ireland who feel that they would benefit from a meeting with one of our HR specialists.

In a competitive job market compensation and benefits take on an even greater level of significance. Unfortunately, the management of such benefits can also take on an added level of complexity.

The HR Company takes the complexity back out. We take the guess-work out of decision making by surveying the marketplace and keeping you informed.

We take the headache out of administering compensation and benefits by providing you with a variety of specialised back-office services. These include everything from processing pension and medical plans to managing and organising your company’s Organisational Health Index.

Here is a list of some of the services we offer to assist companies with their compensation and benefits management:

 

•Pension/medical membership processing

•Salary survey, planning & administration

•Salary/Bonus/Stock system processing

•Company Car policy management

•Mortgage application processing

•Maternity/Parental Leave benefits

•Flexible benefits

•Advise on, manage and organise annual Benefits and Expo & Health Awareness Programme

•Manage & organise company OHI

•Manage Outplacement Programme

•Tailored generation of reports & statistics

 

If you require guidance or support with benefit and compensation administration then look no further than The HR Company.

 

The issue of age discrimination has become a significant one in Ireland in this extremely litigious era – it is imperative that employers are very careful in all they say, write and do in relation to age if they aim to avoid a discrimination claim. 

Discrimination is defined as the treatment of one person in a less favourable way than another person in a comparable situation on any of the nine specific grounds. It covers not only current and past discrimination but also discrimination that may exist in the future or is imputed to a person.

The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2011 prohibit discrimination in employment based on a person’s age as well as eight other grounds (gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community). The Equality Authority, in some instances, will provide assistance to individuals who feel as though they have been discriminated against in their employment.

The Equality Tribunal is charged with investigating alleged discrimination on any of the nine grounds and ensures the relevant employment legislation is implemented correctly. The Equality Tribunal can enforce a means of redress or compensation in favour of the employee.

Discrimination based on age commonly occurs at the recruitment stage and in the course of the interview and selection process. The Acts outlaw discrimination in job advertisements and therefore employers need to be extremely careful when drafting such advertisements. An employer cannot seek a “young and dynamic employee” as this excludes several candidates who are not “young” – all interested parties should have equal right to be considered for the role. Similarly, employers should not make it compulsory for applicants to provide their age or date of birth when applying for a job.

It is also frequent in the area of promotion or in redundancy scenarios. An employee cannot be made redundant in order to make way for a “younger” employee.

Employers are entitled to implement certain policies under the Acts, for instance, an employer may set a minimum age requirement (not more than 18 years of age) for potential applicants for a job. The employer can also set a compulsory retirement age but this must be clear and fair for all employees based on their role.

In relation to retirement ages an employer should have a policy in place that covers this. He or she should ensure that the compulsory retirement age is referred to in the contract of employment as well as including a very detailed description of the policy in the company handbook – employees should be required to confirm in writing that they have read and accept the employee handbook.

A Retirement Policy should, at a very minimum, confirm the age at which employees must retire. It should also include a timeline detailing what happens in the run up to the retirement date. For instance, when the employee should expect to be advised of their precise retirement date and details of who they should expect to receive this information from.

Some employers will provide that a member of the HR department meets the employee who is set to retire in order to discuss items like outstanding annual leave, handover procedures, return of company equipment, how any benefits or benefits-in-kind may be managed (a company car, for example, if applicable).

Some companies will also assist the employee who is retiring by providing a pre-retirement course in advance of their departure or by discussing pensions and other financial matters with the individual. It could benefit the employee to meet with a financial advisor in the run up to the employee’s retirement - this is something that the employer could provide. If the employee offers this the option to meet a financial advisor (or similar) it should be detailed in the employee handbook.

The effective management of the retirement process will support the employee in the final stages of their employment with the company and will protect the employer by enabling the appropriate transfer of valuable knowledge from the departing employee to the company.

 

 

Companies may offer a fixed-term contract to a person over the compulsory retirement age but there is no obligation on them to do so.

Often the Tribunal finds in favour of the employee in cases relating to discrimination in the workplace, however, one notable age related case was dismissed by the Equality Tribunal when evidence that the employer had an established policy with regard to retirement age and had included retirement age in the contract of employment was provided.

The relevant case decision number is DEC-E2012-086.

Mr. X argued that his former employer had discriminated against him on the basis of age when he was forced to retire at the age of 65. Mr. X had worked for his employer for more than 10 years prior to turning 65. Mr. X, along with his colleagues, were informed of his departure date via e-mail when an invitation to a social event to mark Mr. X’s retirement was sent out.

Mr. X did not want to retire and argued that he was being directly discriminated against on the basis of his age. The employer refuted Mr. X’s allegation and argued that the retirement age of 65 was a “clear term and condition of the contract of employment of employees and a long-standing custom and practice”.

Mr. X’s claim failed as the Tribunal found that his former employer had a “well established practice of retiring its employees” at the age of 65. In certain instances employees who were over 65 were re-engaged on fixed-term contracts for project purposes but that wasn’t the case in all circumstances and it was not the case with Mr. X.

It was an interesting determination from an employer perspective.

Lots of difficult situations present themselves for employers on a regular basis - The HR Company aims to assist employers with their challenging role by giving pratical advice on all HR related activities -

 

One of our consultants was asked a question by an employer about redundancy -

Unfortunately, with the recent economic climate, my business simply doesn't justify eleven employees anymore. Things have become very quiet for us and I am struggling to make ends meet. I feel I need to get down to approximately seven employees to ride-out the downturn. What is the process that I should follow in order to stay compliant in this situation? 

 

 

The HR Company advice: 

Many companies are finding themselves in similar situations in this economy. Initially, the owner should determine if this quiet period is one that is expected to be short term or longer term. If the quiet period is expected to be for a few weeks or months the owner should consider placing employees on reduced working hours or possibly laying off some staff for the short term.

Alternatively, if the business cannot sustain the number of employees they currently hold, then redundancies will need to be considered. All other avenues should be exhausted prior to making the decision to make positions redundant. There is a strict redundancy selection process that has to be followed when making job roles redundant. Remember that it is the role that is made redundant rather than the employee – One cannot make an employee redundant and then hire a replacement in their role the next day.

 

Common employer pitfall:

If a business does not engage with introducing any of these measures with employees in the correct way, the employee may leave the company (i.e. if on a short working week or on lay-off) and claim Constructive Dismissal which could see the employee awarded a large sum. If the correct redundancy process is not followed a former employee may make a claim of Unfair Dismissal or Unfair Selection for Redundancy which can run to high costs for your business in the long run.