Ms Maeve McElwee:

I will be brief in my reply. From our perspective, I am probably looking at particular sectors that were impacted here. There are two issues. One is the fact that most sick leave schemes, as they currently operate, are on a rolling basis. This entitlement arises every year from January to December but it rolls, depending on when sick leave might have been first activated within the rolling period. The calendar period presents a unique challenge for many sectors, particularly those in our experience economy and those in retail because many of them have extraordinarily busy times. During those times, those employers would not offer annual leave on a regular basis. Taking retail as an example, that would be true as we come into the Christmas trading period and the new year's sales period. It is often a challenge for other employees when people are absent or not around. Three or four days' absence is disruptive during that period. If sick pay is available for ten days, somebody could potentially disappear for ten days before Christmas and another ten days during the January sales period.

We were looking at it in the context of the experience economy element across entertainment, hospitality, retail, restaurants and bars, with all those sectors hitting that critically important trading period in December and January. All these things wrap back up. That covers the issues of the rolling 12 months and the absence of any management clauses within this proposed legislation that all lead to it being problematic.