The Government is to stall plans to increase paid sick leave for workers from five days to seven, under a proposal going to Cabinet today.
The previous government began a process of increasing statutory paid sick leave under laws passed in 2022, with the intention to increase annually by another two days this year.
However, it is understood that Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke will today tell Cabinet that the planned increase will not go ahead. The move had been flagged but it was not known that it would proceed to Cabinet as soon as today.
Mr Burke will cite research undertaken by the ESRI as well as polling data with firms that was analysed by the Department and officials in the Government’s economic evaluation unit.
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The research paper – which has not yet been published – is said to have that the retail, accommodation and food services sectors are likely to be more affected should the statutory sick leave entitlement increase from five days to seven days.
The cost was estimated at an additional 0.44 per cent of total payroll cost overall with a slightly higher impact for businesses in those sectors – at 0.6 per cent of annual payroll costs.
