Employment Rights
Dail Éireann — 2021-09-15
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Leo Varadkar (FG), Dublin West

The legislation is still in development, so we do not even have the heads at this stage. There are many aspects that might end up in it and I am certainly open to suggestions. As for the right to switch off or disconnect, we dealt with that through a code of practice, which was published a few months ago. It is not a statutory code of practice but it is admissible in evidence where somebody takes a complaint in respect of the Organisation of Working Time Act, for example. After consideration, we just did not think it was the kind of measure we could include in primary legislation. Workplaces vary so much. Some are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., while others follow the clock. We just did not think that could be legislated for in primary legislation, so we have done it through the code of practice giving people the right to disconnect. While that is not statutory, if people have had their working times protections breached, they can use it and it is admissible in proceedings.
In the case of younger workers, or any workers who might be in crowded accommodation such as a one-bedroom apartment or a studio, it is not envisaged that the employer would be required to provide a workspace in their private home. The idea is that if somebody wants to work remotely, he or she will provide that, although obviously it will have to be a certain standard. These are issues we will have to think through, I imagine.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2021-09-15