The government has announced more details of its mandatory sick pay scheme. The new law will give employees in Ireland a right to sick pay for the first time from 2022.
In its latest announcement, the government confirmed that it has approved the drafting of the General Scheme of the Sick Leave Bill 2021, which will make it mandatory for employers in Ireland to provide statutory sick pay (SSP) to employees.
In his announcement, Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar explained that the aim of the scheme is to ensure that "every worker, especially lower paid workers in the private sector, have the security and peace of mind of knowing that if they fall ill and miss work, they won't lose out on a full day's pay".
While SSP practices across the 27 EU member states vary, Ireland is one of only three member states to have no SSP scheme at all as detailed in the government's public consultation document on SSP. The implications of this lack of SSP scheme for workers and businesses alike were highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic when workers were told to stay out of work for 14 days if they had symptoms of COVID-19 or were identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19. This requirement to take unpaid sick leave understandably caused financial hardship for many workers who could not work from home and in some cases led workers to hide their symptoms or close contact status to avoid having to take unpaid time off work.
What will the new SSP scheme provide?
The SSP scheme will be brought in over four years, gradually increasing to a maximum 10 days' paid sick leave as follows:
- three days in 2022;
- five days in 2023;
- seven days in 2024; and
- 10 days in 2025.
The rate of sick pay will be set at 70% of the employee's wage, subject to a daily threshold of €110. This daily threshold is based on the 2019 mean annual salary of €40,889.16. As explained in the government press release, the threshold may be reviewed and amended over time in line with changes in income or inflation.
Are there any conditions which attach to the payment of SSP?
Employees will have to provide a medical certificate to qualify for SSP and will need to have worked for their employer for a minimum six-month period before they can claim SSP under the scheme.
Where employees exceed their SSP entitlement, but remain on certified sick leave, they may qualify for the illness benefit, which is paid by the Department of Social Protection.
The legislation to introduce the scheme has yet to be published and the obligation to provide SSP will not apply to businesses until 2022. In practice, many employers may already provide a sick pay entitlement for staff which is over and above the SSP scheme entitlement. Where this is the case, employers may wish to update their template contracts for new hires to provide that contractual sick pay is inclusive of any applicable SSP entitlement. In any event, employers should consider reviewing their policies and contracts to ensure that they reference and comply with the minimum statutory entitlements under the SSP scheme when it comes into force.
