Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

7 o’clock

Section 15 of the Bill amends section 27 of the Parental Leave Act which provides for the retention of records to be held by an employer in respect of the forms of leave and entitlements under the Act. Section 15 provides that those records relating to leave for medical care purposes and the right to request a flexible working arrangement be held for three years only. The requirements of the general data protection regulation are that third party data should only be held as long as necessary. An extension of this period could be in breach of those regulations. There is an obligation on an employer to destroy a record.

Amendment No. 27 includes in the Bill explicit provision that records related to domestic violence leave be held for three years. Amendments Nos. 25, 26 and 28 are further technical amendments flowing from the amendment. I recommend that these amendments be accepted.

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