Last week the Bill completed its passage through both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar T.D. announced that all workers will have the right to paid sick leave, as the Sick Leave Bill 2022 completed its passage through both Houses of the Oireachtas.
The new scheme will start with three days paid sick leave per year, rising to five days in year two, seven days in year three, and employers will eventually cover the cost of ten days in year four.
Sick pay will be paid by employers at a rate of 70% of an employee’s wage, subject to a daily maximum of €110. It can be revised over time by ministerial order in line with inflation and changing incomes.
An employee must obtain a medical certificate to avail of statutory sick pay, and the entitlement is subject to the employee having worked for their employer for a minimum of 13 weeks. Once entitlement to sick pay from their employer ends, employees who need to take more time off may qualify for illness benefit from the Department of Social Protection subject to PRSI contributions.
The Sick Pay Bill is the latest in a series of actions that have improved social protections for workers and the self-employed over the last five years, including:
- paternity benefit,
- parental leave benefit,
- enhanced maternity benefit
- treatment benefit
- the extension of social insurance benefits to the self-employed
Statutory entitlement to sick pay will be phased in as part of a 4-year plan and will initially be for 3 days per year once the Bill is enacted. This will effectively fill the gap in coverage caused by Illness Benefit waiting days. Closing the gap of current waiting days before being able to access Illness Benefit will minimise the numbers of sick employees presenting for work.
The legislation is primarily intended to provide a level of sick pay coverage to many private sector workers and those on low pay, that currently receive no sick pay/or are not entitled to illness benefit.
The initial plan is as follows
- Year one – 3 days covered
- Year two – 5 days covered
- Year three – 7 days covered
- Year four – 10 days covered
Statutory sick pay will be paid by employers at a rate of 70% of an employee’s wage, subject to a daily threshold of €110. Setting a percentage of the gross wage is in line with the calculation method used in the majority of EU Member States that have statutory sick pay schemes, where the percentage used varies from 25% to 100% of the employee’s gross wage. The rate of 70% is set to ensure excessive costs are not placed on employers, who in certain sectors may also have to deal with the cost of replacing staff who are out sick at short notice.
This Scheme compares favourably with the Sick Pay Scheme in Northern Ireland which pays only £96.35 per week.
The daily earnings threshold cut-off point will also ensure that employers do not face excessive costs in relation to employees who are on high salaries
