Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Sick Leave Bill 2022: Committee Stage

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 10:

In page 6, to delete lines 11 and 12.

These amendments amend section 6(1). I refer to the various things the Minister needs to take into account when deciding whether to vary the number of statutory sick leave days. As the Minister of State and people will know, we are against this whole concept in the sense that we think there should be an agreed number of days and we are in favour of no limit.

If there are references to what is being taken into account, then we propose the deletion of the reference to "the state of the economy" and "competitiveness" as consideration for a Minister in varying the number of sick days. Again, we think the worker's right to sick pay should not depend on the notion of competitiveness. Workers should not lose out as a result of the economy not being, supposedly, competitive. My amendment seeks the deletion of the state of economic sectors and the state of employers as considerations for the same reason. It also seeks to delete the views of employers. As the Minister of State will know, employers are not going to be in favour of increasing the number of days for sick pay. Again, we do not think there should be a reference to that. There is then the effect inflation has on the cost of living for employees. This is an extra pressure that is affecting people at the moment and should be taken into consideration.

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