Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the rights and obligations of employers towards their subcontractors in the event of a change of title or demotion; if he intends to bring forward legislation in relation to the protection of workers in subcontracting companies who have worked for a long period of time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8587/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The normal protections of employment legislation apply to any given situation in the employer employee relationship. Compliance with the statutory obligations set out under Irish employment law regarding employees’ statutory rights is the responsibility of the employees’ employer. Where a company subcontracts some or all of its business to another company, the subcontracting arrangement does not give rise to any transfer of statutory obligations regarding the employees’ of the subcontracting company. Disputes in relation to the statutory employment rights of the subcontractors’ employees fall to be addressed by the subcontracting company.

Where disputes cannot be resolved in the workplace, complaints in respect of an employers’ non-compliance with employees’ statutory employment rights can be made using the complaint form available at .

I trust that this information will be of assistance to you. Further information on employees’ statutory employment rights or general information in relation to submitting a complaint may be obtained from the Workplace Relations Customer Service Unit at 1890 80 80 90.

I have no plans to bring forward additional legislation on this issue.