Parental Leave Act 1998

(a)shall be deemed to have been dismissed on the date on which he or she was entitled to return to work as aforesaid and the dismissal shall be deemed, for the purposes of the Unfair Dismissal Acts, 1977 to 1993, to have been an unfair dismissal unless, having regard to all the circumstances, there were substantial grounds justifying the dismissal,

(b)shall be deemed for the purposes of the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 to 1991, to have been dismissed by reason of redundancy on the date aforesaid, and

(c)shall be deemed for the purposes of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts, 1973 to 1991, to have had his or her contract of employment with his or her employer terminated on the date aforesaid.

(4)The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, is hereby amended—

(a)in section 15, by the insertion in subsection (4), after paragraph (a), of the following paragraph:

and

(b)in section 16, by the insertion in subsection (5), after paragraph (c), of the following paragraph:

“(cc)any period during which the employee was absent from work while on parental leave or force majeure leave,”.

(5)The Employment Equality Act, 1998, is hereby amended by the insertion in section 39, after paragraph (b), of the following paragraph:

26. Extension of Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984.

26.—(1)Section 6 of the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act, 1984 (as amended by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994) shall be amended in accordance with this section.

(2)In subsection (2)(a)(v), for clause (II) there shall be substituted—

(3)In subsection (4)(c)—

(a)for subparagraph (iv) (other than clauses (I) and (II) thereof) there shall be substituted—

and

(b)for subparagraph (v) (other than clauses (I) and (II) thereof) there shall be substituted—

27. Records.

27.—F58[(1) An employer shall make a record of the parental leave,force majeureleave, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave and approved flexible working arrangements taken by his or her employees showing the period of employment of each employee and the dates and times upon which each employee was on the leave or arrangement concerned.]

F59[(2) A record under this section shall be retained by the employer concerned—

(a) where the record is in respect of parental leave, for a period ofF58[12 years,]

(b) where the record is in respect offorce majeureleave, for a period ofF58[8 years, and]

F60[(c) where the record is in respect of leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or an approved flexible working arrangement, for a period of 3 years,]

in such form as the Minister may specify.]

(3)Notices, or copies of notices, required by this Act to be retained by a person shall be retained by the person for a period of one year.

(4)An employer who contravenes subsection (1) or F61[F58[paragraph (a), (b)or(c)]ofsubsection] (2) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500.

(5) F62[…]

(6)Proceedings for an offence under this section may be brought and prosecuted by the Minister.

28. Review of Act.

28.—The Minister shall, not earlier than 2 years and not later than 3 years after the commencement of this Act, after consultation with persons whom he or she considers to be representative of employers generally and persons whom he or she considers to be representative of employees generally, conduct a review of the operation of this Act and shall prepare a report in writing of the findings of the review and shall cause copies of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.