Parental Leave Act 1998

Amendment of enactments.

25

25.—(1) The Redundancy Payments Act, 1967, is hereby amended by the substitution in paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 3 of the following clause for clause (d) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994):

“(d) a period during which the employee is absent from work while on protective leave, natal care absence within the meaning of Part IV of the Maternity Protection Act, 1994, parental leave or force majeure leave.”.

(2) Section 6 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, is hereby amended—

(a) by the insertion in subsection (2), after paragraph (d), of the following paragraph:

“(dd) the exercise or proposed exercise by the employee of the right to parental leave or force majeure leave under and in accordance with the Parental Leave Act, 1998,”,

and

(b) the insertion, after subsection (2A) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994), of the following subsection:

“(2B) Sections 3 and 4 do not apply to a case falling within subsection (2)(dd) and, for the purpose of that paragraph, ‘employee’ includes a person who would otherwise be excluded from this Act by paragraph (a), (c), (f) or (g) of section 2(1).”.

(3) An employee who is entitled to return to work in the employment concerned in accordance with section 15 but is not permitted by his or her employer to do so—

(a) shall be deemed to have been dismissed on the date on which he or she was entitled to return to work as aforesaid and the dismissal shall be deemed, for the purposes of the Unfair Dismissal Acts, 1977 to 1993, to have been an unfair dismissal unless, having regard to all the circumstances, there were substantial grounds justifying the dismissal,

(b) shall be deemed for the purposes of the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 to 1991, to have been dismissed by reason of redundancy on the date aforesaid, and

(c) shall be deemed for the purposes of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts, 1973 to 1991, to have had his or her contract of employment with his or her employer terminated on the date aforesaid.

(4) The Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, is hereby amended—

(a) in section 15, by the insertion in subsection (4), after paragraph (a), of the following paragraph:

“(aa) any period during which the employee was absent from work while on parental leave or force majeure leave,”,

and

(b) in section 16, by the insertion in subsection (5), after paragraph (c), of the following paragraph:

“(cc) any period during which the employee was absent from work while on parental leave or force majeure leave,”.

(5) The Employment Equality Act, 1998, is hereby amended by the insertion in section 39, after paragraph (b), of the following paragraph:

“(bb) to provide information to the public on the working of the Parental Leave Act, 1998,”.

Annotations

Editorial Notes

E34

The amendment to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 in subs. (1) above was substituted (2.07.2001) by Carer’s Leave Act 2001 (19/2001), s. 26, commenced on enactment and substituted again (10.04.2005) by Redundancy Payments Act 2003 (14/2003), s. 12, S.I. No. 77 of 2005.

E35

The amendment to the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 in subs. (2)(a) above was substituted (2.07.2001) by Carer’s Leave Act 2001 (19/2001), s. 27(2), commenced on enactment.

E36

The amendments to the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 in subs. (4) above were substituted (2.07.2001) by Carer’s Leave Act 2001 (19/2001), s. 28, commenced on enactment.