Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to once again express the gratitude of the House to all of the front-line and essential workers who continued to provide services throughout the pandemic.

The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 sets out an employee’s entitlement to annual leave and the terms and conditions around the taking of that leave. Under section 20 of the Act, the times at which annual leave is taken is ultimately determined by the employer. This is subject to the leave being granted within the leave year to which it relates or, with the consent of the employee, within the six months after the end of that leave year. The Act also allows for further flexibilities to be agreed at sectoral, or company level, when it suits both employees and employers.

If an employer does not allow an employee to take his or her annual leave and does not allow them to carry it into the first six months of the following year, then that employer is breaking the law.

An employee’s entitlement to annual leave was introduced as a health and safety measure as part of the European working time directive, which was transposed into Irish law. While there have been fewer opportunities for travel and recreation activities this year, it is still very important that employees avail of annual leave to take a break, avoid burnout and maintain an appropriate work-life balance, even if that means that they cannot travel abroad or out of their county. This is even more true for staff who have been engaged in work related to the pandemic and have been through an extremely stressful and challenging year.

To date, my Department has not received any representations that would suggest that the carryover of annual leave is a particularly pressing issue at this time. I have sought the views of union and business representative on this matter, via the Labour Employer Economic Forum and their responses to date do not suggest that this is a significant problem but we will keep it under review.

With regard to emergency workers, I have received assurances from both the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the HSE that public sector and front-line workers are being encouraged to take their annual leave throughout the pandemic so that they can get a rest and are not being asked not to take their annual leave.

If an employee believes they have been denied their right to take annual leave they may refer a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission.

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