There were a significant number of employment law developments in Ireland in 2024 to include the introduction of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”), changes to maternity leave and non-disclosure agreements, publication of Codes of Practice around employment status (arising from the Karshan case) as well as the publication of the Code of Practice on the Right to Request Remote and Flexible Work and the determination of the first remote working cases by the Workplace Relations Commission.
Further employment law developments are expected in 2025 and further down the tracks. We have highlighted some of those anticipated changes below:
Minimum entitlements
The minimum wage increased by 80 cent from €12.70 to €13.50 per hour on 1 January 2025. This was 20 cent less than the rate recommended by the Low Pay Commission.
Statutory sick pay is expected to increase from 5 days to 7 days in 2025. Regulations will need to issue to implement this change.
Pension Auto Enrolment
The introduction of the Auto-Enrolment Retirement Savings Scheme, called My Future Fund, will start from 30 September 2025. Employees aged between 23 and 60 earning over €20,000 annually who are not already in an occupational pension scheme will be automatically enrolled in the government scheme. Employer contributions will begin at 1.5% of salary increasing to 6% by Year 10. Employees will also be required to make equivalent contributions. Government contribution will start at .5% increasing to 2% in Year 10. Employees will have the right to opt out after 6 months.
Pay Transparency Directive
The EU Pay Transparency Directive ("the Directive") will impose new gender pay gap reporting obligations on EU Member States, create individual rights to pay transparency (at recruitment stage and throughout employment) and strengthen enforcement mechanisms. The Directive must be transposed into Irish law by 7 June 2026.
EU AI Act
The AI Act will regulate AI by imposing obligations such as transparency and conformity requirements. The EU AI Act will be implemented in stages (and subject to certain exemptions) will be fully applicable 24 months after entry into force, i.e., from 2 August 2026. Additional obligations will be placed on those carrying out certain employment activities such as recruitment (screening of job applications, evaluation or selection of candidates, promotion or termination decisions; and evaluation or assignment of tasks based on an employee’s performance which are all deemed to be “high risk activities” under the Act.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
The Employment Equality Act 1998 (Section 20A) (Gender Pay Gap Information) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (the "2024 Regulations") reduced the threshold to employers with over 150 employees. This threshold will drop to 50 employees from 2025. The Regulations also updated formulas used for calculations and provided clarification on the categorisation of certain benefits.
Platform Workers Directive
In November 2024, the Platform Work Directive was published in the Official Journal. EU member states to include Ireland will have until 2 December 2026 to transpose its provisions into national law. The Directive will impose additional obligations on employers providing “gig economy” services involving automated monitoring or decision-making systems. It also contains certain provisions regarding employment status, restrictions on data processing and collection, as well as imposing more onerous obligations regarding scope of information and consultation requirements.
