2.—(1) In this Act—

“the 1977 Act” means the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977;

“the 1981 Act” means the Maternity Protection of Employees Act, 1981;

“the 1989 Act” means the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989;

“the 1992 Directive” means Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding;

F1["Act of 2001" means the Local Government Act 2001;]

F2["Act of 2015" means the Children and Family Relationships Act 2015;]

“additional maternity leave” has the meaning assigned by section 14;

“associated employer” has the meaning assigned by section 27 (3);

“the Authority” means the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health;

“confinement” and “the date of confinement” have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 41 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993;

“contract of employment” means, subject to subsection (2)—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with a person who is carrying on the business of an employment agency, within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act, 1971, and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for another person (whether or not that other person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and if express, whether it is oral or in writing;

“employee”, subject to subsection (2), means a person who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;

“employee who has recently given birth” means at any time an employee whose date of confinement was not more than 14 weeks earlier and who has informed her employer of her condition;

F3[“employee who is breastfeeding” means at any time an employee whose date of confinement was not more than one hundred and four weeks earlier, who is breastfeeding and who has informed her employer of her condition;]

“employer”, subject to subsection (2), means, in relation to an employee, the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;

F2["expectant father" shall be construed in accordance with subsection (1A) (inserted by section 176 of the Act of 2015);]

“job” has the meaning assigned by section 26 (3);

F1["local authority" has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 2001;]

“maternity leave” has the meaning assigned by section 8;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Equality and Law Reform;

F2["other parent" means a person (other than the mother) who is, under section 5 of the Act of 2015, a parent of a child;]

F4["parent’s leave" has the same meaning as it has in the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019;]

F5["paternity leave" and "transferred paternity leave" have the same meanings as they have in the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016;]

“pregnant employee” means an employee who is pregnant and who has informed her employer of her condition;

F6["premature birth period" has the meaning assigned to it by the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005;]

“successor” has the meaning assigned by section 26 (1);

“the Tribunal” means the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

F2[(1A) In this Act, a reference to an expectant father includes a person who has given his or her consent in accordance with section 11 of the Act of 2015 to a DAHR procedure (within the meaning of section 4 of that Act) where that procedure results in a pregnancy.]

(2) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces) or otherwise as a civil servant, within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956, shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or Government, as the case may be, under a contract of service;

(b) an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941, a harbour authority, a health board or F7[a member of staff of an education and training board] shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority F7[or board], as the case may be, under a contract of F8[service;]

(c) in relation to an employee whose contract of employment falls (or, where the employment has ceased, fell) within paragraph (b) of the definition of “contract of employment” in subsection (1), the person who is liable to pay the employee’s wages shall be deemed to be F8[the employer; and]

F1[(d) a member of a local authority shall be deemed to be an employee of the local authority employed under a contract of service for a fixed term.]

(3) Subject to subsections (1) and (2), expressions used in this Act have the same meaning as in the 1992 Directive.

(4) In this Act a reference to a Part or section is to a Part or section of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.

(5) In this Act a reference to a subsection or paragraph is to the subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

(6) In this Act a reference to an enactment includes a reference to that enactment as amended by any other enactment, including this Act.