Government considers protections for low-paid workers

The Government is expected to agree to introduce new legislation aimed at providing greater protections to low-paid and more vulnerable workers.

The Department of Jobs and Enterprise said on Tuesday that new proposals it is to bring to Cabinet will address the issue of employees on low-hour contracts who consistently worked more hours each week than was reflected in their contracts.

The department said its proposed that new legislation would also seek “to ensure that employees are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements and their core terms at an early stage in their employment”.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) told members of the Oireachtas on Tuesday that it understood the proposed new legislation would include a prohibition on zero-hour contracts, the right to the payment of a minimum three hours pay in circumstances where no work is made available and provision for the introduction of banded hours contracts.

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The proposed new reforms follow on from a report commissioned by the previous Fine Gael /Labour government from the University of Limerick last year on the prevalence of zero-hour and low-hour contracts in the Irish economy.

Consultations

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has held consultations with Ictu and employer organisations over recent months regarding its proposals.

The employers’ body Ibec is scheduled to brief members of the Oireachtas on what it termed “potential unintended consequences” that could arise from new legislation.

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation said on Tuesday that work had progressed well on developing a policy response to the Programme for Government commitment to address the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious employment.

The department said it intended to submit a memo to Government in the coming weeks for consideration and approval to draft a Bill giving effect to its new proposals.