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

I thank the Senator for speaking on behalf of Senator Currie. These amendments propose to delete or alter the proposed section 13B(4) in part or in full. It provides that a flexible working arrangement for caring purposes cannot commence before an employee has completed six months of continuous service with the employer concerned. Providing a minimum length of service of six months before an employee can commence a flexible working arrangement or remote working arrangement allows an employer the time to assess the plausibility and practicality of a request from a new employee. An employer may, of course, waive this period. That is an important point to note.

The entitlement to many forms of family leave requires a minimum period of employment with an employer. For parental leave and carer's leave, for example, the minimum period is one year. Statutory sick leave requires a period of 13 weeks' continuous service. The directive itself envisages a notice period for flexible working arrangements.

These amendments also propose to delete or alter section 20 in part or in full. It mirrors the flexible working provisions providing that a remote working arrangement cannot commence before an employee has completed six months' continuous service with the employer concerned. Under this Bill, a request for remote working can be made from day one and a remote working arrangement can commence at six months. Again, an employer can waive this period as the intention of the legislation is to provide floor-level protections for employees. In effect, an employee may start a remote working arrangement up to 12 weeks earlier than provided for under the original Bill on the right to request remote working, which, as we know, has been amalgamated into this Bill. We believe the provisions in the latter strike a balance between the need of the employee to have flexible or remote working requirements and the need of the employer to have some sense of the practicalities of the implementation of the request. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the amendments.