Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to speak on amendments Nos. 4 and 5. This boils down to how we distinguish illness from other entitlements such as holiday leave and other leave. Illness is not something that workers invite upon themselves. I listened to Senator Buttimer. The vast majority of workers do not abuse sick pay provisions if they are provided in their workplace. The key issue is trust. We must understand that not every worker will be sick every year. We saw in the regulatory impact assessment an estimate of costs. This was based on an assumption that workers would be taking up their sick pay. Workers will not be taking up their leave if they are not sick. It must be available from day one when a worker is sick.

A seasonal worker works for a number of months in a year and may not work again for more than 26 weeks. Seasonal workers might work for three or four months over the summer and seven or eight months will pass before they take up employment again. They will not be covered. They will have to wait 13 weeks. Workers need to be able to take up sick pay from day one. We need to get rid of the 13-week wait period for an employee. If people are sick, they are sick and they need to be covered by the Bill.