Changes to employment law came into effect as of 6th March 2015.
The key changes include:
- extending the right to request flexible working arrangements to all employees;
- how employers and employees should agree on rest and meal breaks;
- establishing a process for the transfer of employees in some industries if there is a restructure in the business or a change in business owner;
- clarifying the confidential information that employers are obliged to give to affected employees in dismissal or redundancy situations;
- changes to collective bargaining: reaching new collective agreements, opting out of multi-employer bargaining, removing the 30 day rule for new, non-union employees and allowing pay deductions of employees who take part in partial strikes;
- setting time frames for the Employment Relations Authority to make determinations in an employment dispute.