David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Let me follow up on what Deputy Shanahan was talking about with respect to insurance. If the home becomes a workplace, there may be implications for insurance cover.

In some instances, perhaps a home would become a workplace even for rates. Could a house or part of it be considered rateable?

If the home becomes a workplace, does the employer have the right to inspect the workplace? If the employer is to be responsible for the safety of the worker, how can the employer ascertain the risks that might be involved if he or she does not have the right to inspect? I note that in New Zealand the employee has to send in photographs of the workspace. Perhaps the witnesses will comment on that.

Is there anything in the Bill that constrains or stops the employer from revoking the arrangements if they do not work? If remote working is agreed on, proceeds but does not work for whatever reason, is there anything in the Bill stopping the employer from revoking the arrangements and saying remote working is to stop and the employee must come into work, the office or whatever?

Head 13 refers to "the commencement of an internal appeal process provided for within their employer’s remote working policy." It then refers to head 14 but I cannot find information on this process in that head. Perhaps the witnesses will speak about this. It seems that this is another step an employee needs to take before he or she can go to the Workplace Relations Commission, where there is an internal appeals process in the company. Is there any time limit by which the employee has to appeal to the WRC? Maybe there is such a time limit under the Act of 2015 but I have not found that. Perhaps the witnesses will tell me. I note that in some jurisdictions the employee has to appeal within a certain time. Is it open-ended? If so, that creates its own problems.

With regard to flexitime and flexible working, is there anything in the heads that would encourage or discourage flexible working? If a person decides to work remotely and is working on Saturdays or Sundays, overtime and so forth comes into the equation. I ask the witnesses to comment on flexible work because it appears that working remotely could facilitate flexitime and flexible working, particularly if parents have to collect children from school and so forth, provided the work is done, and they do these things in their own time.