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

I move amendment No. 20:

In page 7, line 4, after "day" to insert "equivalent to 100 per cent of an employee’s pay".

This amendment and the others in the group would increase the level of sick pay to 100%. They propose to get rid of the arbitrary 70% up to €110 per day, which is what is contained in the Bill. Many of the workers that will be affected by this are minimum wage workers who would be getting less than €110. In many European countries the standard is 100%. There is a very good reason for this, which is that people have built their lives and responsibilities, such as repaying mortgages and buying groceries, around a certain level of pay. We do not think they should be arbitrarily reduced from this level on the basis they are sick. There is still a clear public health argument for sick pay. If people's pay will be reduced there will still be a pressure on them. They may feel they cannot get by on 70% of their pay or €110 a day. There will still be a certain pressure on people feeling they have to go to work to get the full 100% because they rely on it for their mortgage or energy bills, particularly with prices increasing.