2024 is going to be a very busy year in terms of changes and updates to Irish employment legislation. Let’s take a high-level look at how this is going to affect both the employer and employee.
Increase to minimum wage
Legislation: National Minimum Wage Act 2000
The minimum rate of pay in Ireland increased from €11.30 to €12.70 on 1st January 2024. All employers must ensure that they update their payroll systems to ensure adherence to this amendment in pay. All employees impacted by this change must also be notified.
Statutory sick pay
Legislation: The Sick Leave Act 2022
The Sick Leave Act 2022 provides for a Statutory Sick Leave scheme for all employees who have been employed by their current employer for at least 13 weeks.
From 1st January 2024, an employee’s entitlement to statutory sick pay increased from 3 days to 5 days. If an employee does not use all of their entitlement in one consecutive period, the remaining days can be applied to subsequent periods of absence in the same calendar year. The statutory sick pay scheme came into effect in 2023. Employees must provide a medical certificate as part of the application for statutory sick pay.
Parents leave
Legislation: Work Life Balance Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023
From 1st August 2024, parent’s leave will increase from 7 weeks to 9 weeks. This leave applies to all children who are under the age of two in August 2024. This form of leave can be taken by parents of children before the child’s 2nd birthday.
Automatic enrolment – pension scheme
Automatic Enrolment Retirement Saving System Bill 2022
From 1st September 2024, employees who earn more than €20,000 and whom are between 23 and 60 years of age will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme (if they are not already in one.)
The employer will match every €3 that an employee contributes and the state will provide an additional €1. During year one, contributions will be set at 1.5% of an employee’s gross pay which will increase by 1.5% every three years up to 6%.
