Tánaiste Announces Worker’s Right to Sick Pay

The Tánaiste Leo Varadkar announced this week that the statutory sick pay scheme will come into force from January 1, 2023.

The Legislation entitled “The Sick Leave Act” will, for the first time, provide for an entitlement to a minimum period of paid sick leave for all employees in the event that they fall ill or sustain an injury which prevents them from being able to work.

The new scheme means that from the 1st of January 2023 employees will be entitled to three days for the first year, rising to five days in 2024, seven days in 2025, and ten days in 2026.

Sick pay will be paid by employers at a rate of 70% of an employee’s wage, subject to a daily maximum threshold of €110. The daily earnings threshold of €110 is based on the 2019 mean weekly earnings of €786.33 and equates to an annual salary of €40,889.16. It can be revised by ministerial order in line with inflation and changing incomes.

The Sick Leave Act states that following a period of statutory sick leave, an employee is to be treated as if they had not been so absent and as such sick leave does not affect any other employment rights.

While the Act sets out a minimum entitlement, it specifically does not prevent employers providing for more favourable sick leave provisions being made within the employment contract. However, very importantly the Sick Leave Act does allow for employers to apply to the Labour Court for an exemption from the statutory obligation to provide sick pay for a period of no more than a year.

The Act also states that employers ‘shall not penalise or threaten penalisation of an employee for proposing to exercise or having exercised his or her entitlement to statutory sick leave and requires the employer to keep records of any statutory sick Leave taken by employees, for a period of 4 years and failure to keep such records could result in a fine of up to €2,500.00



Finally, if an employee believes that their employer has failed to comply with the provisions of this Act, the employee may make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission, where the Adjudicator may award up to 4 weeks compensation.