Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 37:

In page 17, between lines 18 and 19, to insert the following: “(1A) Where a termination of a flexible working agreement occurs due to circumstances described in subsection (1)(a), the termination shall only be valid for the period in which such seasonal variations occur and upon the conclusion of that period the flexible working agreement shall resume.”.

Amendment No. 37 seeks to introduce a new subsection to section 13E which would require that, ""here a termination of a flexible working arrangement occurs due to circumstances described in subsection (1)(a) [which is seasonal variation], the termination ... [should] only be valid for the period in which seasonal variations occur and upon the conclusion of that period the flexible working arrangement ... [should] resume."

The is an amendment to ensure that seasonal variations in work or business do not prevent flexible work arrangements from being agreed on at all or that we do not have a situation where seasonal variations are used as a reason or an excuse to end a flexible work arrangement permanently where it would be appropriate to continue it outside the period of seasonal variation. We know businesses have one, two or three busy months, such as during a good summer in certain areas. The business may have one busy month, such as a Christmas period which is extremely busy, and requires many more people to be there in-person. However, we should not have a situation whereby some seasonal variation or one or two busy weeks or months in the year are used as a reason, with somebody having gone through the laborious process of flexible working arrangements with regard to care, to fully terminate an arrangement that is working for the other 11 months or 50 weeks of the year.

There is a concern that, in the Bill, the fact of seasonal variations, which are very common in many workplaces, is being used as a reason for terminating the norm. The exception is effectively being used to overturn the rule rather than simply accommodating the exception. My amendment seeks to recognise there may be periods where a flexible working arrangement may need to be suspended for a period of time but also to ensure it is not an indefinite suspension or termination of such an arrangement.

Amendment No. 58 is a similar issue to amendment No. 37. It relates to the termination of a remote working arrangement due to the circumstances described in subsection (1)(a) with regard to seasonal variation and says that termination, and the language should probably be that it should be a suspension, should only be valid for the period in which such seasonal variations occur, and upon the conclusion of that period of remote working, the remote working agreement should resume. The amendment is to ensure seasonal variations in work and business do not prevent remote work arrangements from being agreed upon and that seasonal variations are not used as a reason to end flexible work arrangements permanently when it is appropriate to continue them outside the period of seasonal variation.

There is a process to go through and there may be a three-month waiting period. We do not want a situation where every employee who wishes to have a flexible or remote working arrangement is in a position where he or she needs to reapply for the arrangement. An employee may have to reapply in September, because August was busy, wait another one, two or three months and then it is gone again. That is not serving anybody. It is unnecessary and cumbersome and moves both the employer and employee right back to the beginning of the process, when an employer may simply want flexibility around a temporary suspension of an arrangement rather than having to go back to the very beginning.