Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023

“Act of 1998” means the Parental Leave Act 1998;

“Commission” means the Workplace Relations Commission;

“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment.

31. Code of practice

31. (1) The Minister may, following consultation with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, give a direction to the Commission requiring the Commission to prepare and submit to him or her a code of practice for the purpose of practical guidance to employers, employees and any other persons as to the steps that may be taken for complying with one or more provisions of Part IIA of the Act of 1998 or Part 3.

• (2) The Commission shall comply with a direction under subsection (1) and shall prepare and submit to the Minister a draft code of practice.

• (3) Before submitting a draft code of practice to the Minister under subsection (2), the Commission shall request any person that it considers appropriate, including trade unions and employer representative bodies and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, to make representations to it in relation to the draft code of practice, and the Commission shall consider any such representations made.

• (4) The Minister may, at the request of the Commission or of his or her own volition, after consultation with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Commission and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, give a direction to the Commission to revise the draft code of practice submitted to him or her under subsection (2) in such manner as is specified in the direction, and the Commission shall comply with the direction and resubmit to the Minister a revised code of practice.

• (5) The Minister may, following consultation with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, by order, declare a draft code of practice submitted or resubmitted to him or her in accordance with this section to be an approved code of practice for the purposes of Part 3 or Part IIA of the Act of 1998, and the text of the approved code of practice shall be set out in the order.

• (6) The Commission shall publish the approved code of practice on its website.

• (7) The Minister may, by order, after consultation with the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, the Commission and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, revoke or amend an approved code of practice.

• (8) Every order under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House sits after the order has been laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

• (9) A code of practice standing approved under this section shall be admissible in evidence in proceedings before a court, the Labour Court or an adjudication officer appointed under section 40 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015.

PART 5 Amendment of other acts

32. Amendment of Schedule 3 to Redundancy Payments Act 1967

32. The Redundancy Payments Act 1967 is amended in Schedule 3—

• (a) by the substitution of the following for paragraph 5(c)(ii):

• “(ii) while on parental leave, force majeure leave, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or on a flexible working arrangement under the Parental Leave Act 1998, or”,

and

• (b) by the substitution of the following for paragraph 8A(b)(ii):

• “(ii) while on parental leave, force majeure leave, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or on a flexible working arrangement under the Parental Leave Act 1998, or”.

33. Amendment of section 6 of Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

33. The Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 is amended in section 6(2)(dd), by the insertion of “, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or a request for a flexible working arrangement” after “force majeure leave”.

34. Amendment of Maternity Protection Act 1994

34. The Maternity Protection Act 1994 is amended—

• (a) in section 2(1), by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “employee who is breastfeeding”:

“‘employee who is breastfeeding’ means at any time an employee whose date of confinement was not more than one hundred and four weeks earlier, who is breastfeeding and who has informed her employer of her condition;”,

• (b) by the deletion of section 7(2), and

• (c) in section 16(1), by the substitution of “woman or other person” for “woman”.

35. Amendment of Adoptive Leave Act 1995

35. The Adoptive Leave Act 1995 is amended—

• (a) in section 7(2)(c)(ii), by the insertion of “his or” before “her employer”,

• (b) in section 7(3), by the insertion of “his or” before “her employer”,

• (c) in section 9(3)(d), by the substitution of “surviving parent” for “adopting father”,

• (d) in section 19(1)—

• (i) by the insertion of “him or” after “permit”, and

• (ii) by the insertion of “he or” after “in accordance with that section,”,

• (e) in section 42(2), by the insertion of “his or” before “her” in each place that it occurs,

• (f) in section 42(4), by the insertion of “his or” before “her” in each place that it occurs,

• (g) in section 43(1), by the insertion of “he or” before “she” in each place that it occurs,

• (h) in section 43(2)—

• (i) by the insertion of “his or” before “her” in each place that it occurs, and

• (ii) by the insertion of “he or” before “she”,

and

• (i) in section 44(1)—

• (i) by the insertion of “his or” before “her” in each place that it occurs, and

• (ii) by the insertion of “he or” before “she” in each place that it occurs.

36. Amendment of Organisation of Working Time Act 1997

36. The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 is amended—

• (a) in section 15(4)(aa), by the insertion of “, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or an approved flexible working arrangement within the meaning of the Parental Leave Act 1998” after “force majeure leave”, and

• (b) in section 16(5)(cc), by the insertion of “, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or an approved flexible working arrangement within the meaning of the Parental Leave Act 1998” after “force majeure leave”.

37. Amendment of National Minimum Wage Act 2000

37. The National Minimum Wage Act 2000 is amended in section 8(2)(ii) by the insertion of “leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave,” after “parental leave,”.

38. Amendment of Adoption Act 2010

38. The Adoption Act 2010 is amended in section 100—

• (a) by the substitution of the following for subsection (5):

• “(5) Subject to subsection (7), the members present at a meeting called under subsection (4) shall choose one of their number to chair the meeting.”,

and

• (b) by the substitution of the following for subsection (6):

• “(6) The quorum for a meeting of the Authority is—

  • (a) the chairperson or deputy chairperson, or

  • (b) in the case of a meeting called under subsection (4), and where applicable, the member chosen under subsection (5) to chair the meeting who, for that meeting, shall be regarded as the chairperson for the purposes of subsections (9) and (10),

  and 2 other members, one of whom may be the deputy chairperson where the chairperson or another member chosen under subsection (5) is presiding.”.

39. Amendment of Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014

39. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 45:

“45A. (1) Subject to section 45, a person who was a member of the staff of the Human Rights Commission and who—

• (a) prior to the establishment day, ceased employment with the Human Rights Commission, or

• (b) has a preserved superannuation benefit with the Human Rights Commission,

shall, with effect from the date of commencement of this section, be deemed to be a civil servant in the Civil Service of the State in respect of superannuation benefits payable, in accordance with the provisions of those schemes, as a result of his or her membership of the superannuation schemes created under section 20 of the Human Rights Commission Act 2000.

• (2) With effect from the date of commencement of this section, superannuation benefits referred to in subsection (1) shall be payable by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform out of funds provided by the Oireachtas.”.

40. Amendment of Workplace Relations Act 2015

40. The Workplace Relations Act 2015 is amended—

• (a) in section 2, by the insertion of the following definitions:

“‘expectant father’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1994;

‘other parent’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 1994;”,

• (b) in section 41(7)—

• (i) by the substitution in paragraph (c)(iii) of “father or other parent” for “father”,

• (ii) by the substitution in paragraph (g) of “the occurrence of the dispute,” for “the occurrence of the dispute, and”,

• (iii) by the substitution in paragraph (h) of “the occurrence of the dispute, and” for “the occurrence of the dispute.”, and

• (iv) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (h):

• “(i) in the case of a dispute relating to the entitlement of an employee or the obligation of the employer, as the case may be, under Part 3 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, it has been referred to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the day immediately following the date of the occurrence of the dispute.”,

• (c) in Schedule 1, by the insertion in Part 2 of the following paragraph after paragraph 19:

“20. Part 3 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023”,

• (d) in Schedule 5 by the insertion in Part 3 of the following paragraph after paragraph 8:

“9. Part 3 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023.”,

and

• (e) in Schedule 6—

• (i) by the insertion in Part 1 of the following paragraphs after paragraph 38:

“39. Section 21A of the Parental Leave Act 1998

1. Section 27 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023”,

and

• (ii) by the insertion in Part 2 of the following paragraphs after paragraph 38:

“39. Section 21A of the Parental Leave Act 1998

1. Section 27 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023”.

41. Amendment of Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022

41. The Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 is amended—

• (a) in section 5(2), by the insertion of “In this section,” before ‘‘ ‘public body’ ”,

• (b) in section 25(2), by the insertion of “to section 33A or” after “Without prejudice”,

• (c) in section 31(2), by the insertion of “to section 33A or” after “Without prejudice”,

• (d) in section 32(4), by the substitution of “section 33 or for the purposes of section 33A,” for “section 33,”,

• (e) by the insertion of the following section after section 33:

“Agency and Authority may conduct trace for certain purposes under Part 3 or 4

33A. The Agency or the Authority may—

• (a) where either receives an application under section 21(1), 22(1), 27(1) or 28(1), or

• (b) on the request of another relevant body that receives an application referred to in paragraph (a),

conduct a trace for the purposes of establishing, for the purposes of section 21(3)(b), 22(3)(b), 27(3)(b) or 28(3)(b), as the case may be, whether a person is deceased.”,

• (f) in section 34(1)—

• (i) by the insertion of “or where section 33A applies,” after “section 33,”,

• (ii) in paragraph (a), by the substitution of “relates,” for “relates, or”,

• (iii) in paragraph (b), by the substitution of “direction, or” for “direction.”, and

• (iv) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

• “(c) where section 33A applies, trace the person concerned for the purposes of establishing whether the person is deceased.”,

and

• (g) by the insertion of the following subsection after section 34(8)—

• “(8A) Where the Agency or Authority, in a case to which section 33A(b) applies and having taken the steps referred to in subsection (1)(c)—

  • (a) establishes that the person concerned is deceased or not deceased, or

  • (b) is unable to establish whether the person concerned is deceased,

  it shall, in writing and without delay, inform the relevant body concerned of that fact.”.

Footnotes