Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Sick Leave Act came into effect on 1st of January 2023, providing up to three days of employer-paid sick leave this year.

In order to achieve a balanced approach, increases in the statutory entitlement to sick leave are being introduced gradually over four years. This phased approach gives employers time to adjust and plan for the new responsibility. The second phase of this plan is to increase the number of statutory sick leave days from three to five days per year on 1 January 2024. The next increase is planned for 1 January 2025 when it is intended to provide for up to seven days per year and then to provide for ten days per year on 1 January 2026.

Under Section 13 of the Act, the employer must make a record of statutory sick leave taken by employees and these records must be retained for four years. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) can request to view these records as part of an inspection.

There are no reporting obligations imposed under the Act. Therefore, the Department does not collect statistics on the number of claims for statutory sick leave under the Act and are unable to estimate the number of claims or potential under-claiming. The operation of the Act is kept under review.

A communication campaign is planned to promote the proposed increase from three days to five days prior to 1 January 2024 and it is expected that this will increase overall awareness of the scheme.