Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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236.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans that are in place to update legislation and policy governing the Workplace Relations Commission in relation to self-employment status given the recent Supreme Court case (details supplied); whether this ruling will impact Workplace Relations Commission decisions on employer PRSI; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24863/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland has robust mechanisms for the determination of the employment status and the Government is committed to tackling false self-employment wherever it occurs.

Where an issue arises in relation to the employment status of an individual, cases are forwarded to Revenue, for taxation purposes, and/or the Department of Social Protection, for PRSI purposes, for investigation. This is undertaken either solely by the recipient, or jointly with the Labour Inspectorate of the Workplace Relations Commission. The WRC’s Adjudication Service and the Labour Court (on appeal) may also determine employment status as a preliminary issue when adjudicating on employment rights complaints.

The Government welcomes the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Domino’s Pizza case. However, it is important to stress that the case was concerned solely with the proper tax treatment of the workers concerned. The broader question of employment rights was not before the Court and was not considered by it. Although the decision centres on tax legislation, my Department is considering the judgement in the context of our employment rights remit.

The Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status, which is the key guidance document for employers and workers and others in relation to deciding the employment status, is currently being updated by officials in the Department of Social Protection, jointly with the Revenue Commissioners and Workplace Relations Commission.

More generally, work is ongoing in my Department to establish the Employment Law Review Group (ELRG) on a statutory basis. Once established, the ELRG will be a valuable asset in considering complex employment law questions.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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237.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of workplace inspections the Workplace Relations Commission carried out in 2023, broken down by month; the number of these inspections resulted in a contravention notice; the number that resulted in a fixed payment notice and/or a compliance notice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24864/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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238.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide a sectoral breakdown of workplace inspections carried out by the Workplace Relations Commission in 2023, broken down by month; the number of these inspections that resulted in a contravention notice, by sector; how many resulted in a fixed payment notice and/or a compliance notice, by sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24865/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 237 and 238 together.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department, established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services.

WRC inspectors carry out inspections of employer records with a view to determining compliance with employment rights legislation. Where contraventions are detected at an inspection, the employer will be advised and a Contravention Notice will issue setting out details of the contravention, the grounds for the Inspector’s determination that a contravention has taken place and the actions required by the employer within a specified deadline (usually 21 days) to demonstrate compliance including, where relevant, the payment of any unpaid wages arising from the contraventions. The Inspector will always, where possible endeavour to work with the employer to achieve compliance.

Where employers do not engage with the Inspector, or do not demonstrate compliance, following the issue of the Contravention Notice, the matter may proceed to prosecution proceedings and, depending on the contravention involved, the issuing of a Fixed Payment Notice and/or a Compliance Notice. Compliance Notices may be issued to employers by WRC Inspectors in respect of specified contraventions of employment legislation.

Current practice and policy are that compliance notices will be issued where employers do not engage with the Inspector, or do not demonstrate compliance, following the issue of a Contravention Notice.

Fixed Payment Notices may be issued to employers by WRC Inspectors in respect of specified offences under employment legislation. Current practice and policy are that fixed payment notices will be issued where employers do not engage with the Inspector, or do not demonstrate compliance, following the issue of a Contravention Notice relating to these offences.

The attached information provides the sectoral breakdown of the number of inspections carried out, and the number of contravention, compliance and fixed penalty notices, issued by the WRC inspectorate in 2023.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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239.To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the plans that are in place to make employees aware of their recourse to anonymous complaints through the Workplace Relations Commission inspection service; whether any plans are in place to make employees who do not speak English as a first language aware of their recourse to anonymous complaints through the Workplace Relations Commission inspection service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24866/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services.

Employees or former employees can submit complaints to the WRC for investigation by an Inspector. These complaints can be made anonymously via the WRC call centre, by email, or using the WRC website, further details at:

Complaints can cover a range of issues including:

• Failure to pay the National Minimum Wage
• Unauthorised deductions from wages/under-payments,
• Failure to issue payslips,
• Failure to give rest breaks and daily and weekly rest,
• Failure to grant annual leave and/or public holiday entitlements,
• Allowing employees to work in excess of maximum weekly working hours, and
• Failure to provide terms of employment.

Dedicated information on Employment and Equality Legislation is provided on the WRC website at in a variety of languages including:

• Arabic
• Bulgarian
• Filipino
• French
• Hindi
• Indonesian
• Latvian
• Lithuanian
• Mandarin
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Romanian
• Russian
• Slovakian
• Spanish
• Sri Lankan (Sinhala & Tamil)
• Ukrainian