Minimum Notice
Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act
REVISED
Updated to 1 October 2015
AN ACT TO REQUIRE A MINIMUM PERIOD OF NOTICE TO TERMINATE THE EMPLOYMENT OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED FOR A QUALIFYING PERIOD, TO PROVIDE FOR MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE GIVING OF NOTICE, AND TO REQUIRE EMPLOYERS TO GIVE WRITTEN PARTICULARS OF THE TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [9th May, 1973]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
Interpretation.
1.—In this Act—
“the Act of 1967” means the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967;
F1[‘civil servant’ has the same meaning as in the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956;]
F1[‘Department’ has the same meaning as in the Public Service Management Act 1997;]
“employee” means an individual who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether it be expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it be a contract of service or of apprenticeship or otherwise, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“lay-off” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1967;
“lock-out” has the meaning assigned to it by Part II of the Act of 1967;
“Minister” means the Minister for Labour;
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;
F1[‘Scheduled Office’ has the same meaning as it has in the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956;]
“short-time” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1967;
“strike” has the meaning assigned to it by Part II of the Act of 1967;
“the Tribunal” means the Tribunal established under the Act of 1967;
“week” means any period of seven consecutive days;
“year” means any period of fifty-two weeks.
Annotations:
Amendments:
F1
Inserted (4.07.2006) by Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Act 2005 (18/2005), s. 24, S.I. No. 363 of 2006.
Application of Act to civil servants.
1A.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, a reference to an ‘employee’ shall be construed as including a civil servant who holds office in the Civil Service of the Government or in the Civil Service of the State.
(2) Subject to subsection (4), for the purposes of this Act, as respects a civil servant, a reference in this Act to an ‘employer’ shall be construed as including the State, a Minister of the Government, a Department or a Scheduled Office in which the civil servant concerned holds office.
(3) As respects a civil servant, for the purposes of this Act, ‘contract of employment’ means such arrangements as are made by the Minister for Finance under section 17 of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956, together with such further terms and conditions of service which apply to the civil servant concerned, made in respect of a particular Department or Scheduled Office which extend or alter the arrangements under the said section 17.
(4) Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the status of a civil servant as an officer.
(5) For the purposes of this section and the First Schedule—
(a) ‘Department’ includes such bodies or organisations (whether established by or under statute, or otherwise) other than a Scheduled Office, for which the Minister having charge of the Department concerned is responsible, and
(b) ‘Scheduled Office’ includes such bodies or organisations (whether established by or under statute or otherwise) for which the Minister of the Government having charge of the Scheduled Office is responsible.]
Annotations:
Amendments:
F2
Inserted (4.07.2006) by Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Act 2005 (18/2005), s. 25, S.I. No. 363 of 2006.
Commencement.
2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.
Annotations:
Editorial Notes:
E5
Power pursuant to section exercised (1.09.1973) by Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment (Commencement) Order 1973 (S.I. No. 242 of 1973).
2. The 1st day of September, 1973, is hereby appointed as the day on which the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 (No. 4 of 1973) shall come into operation.
Non-application of Act.
3.—(1) This Act shall not apply to—
(a) employment of an employee who is normally expected to work for the same employer for less than F3[eighteen hours] in a week,
(b) employment by an employer of an employee who is the father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, halfbrother or halfsister of the employer and who is a member of the employer’s household and whose place of employment is a private dwellinghouse or a farm in or on which both the employee and the employer reside,
(c) F4[…]
(d) employment as a member of the Permanent Defence Forces (other than a temporary member of the Army Nursing Service),
(e) employment as a member of the Garda Síochána, and
(f) employment under an employment agreement pursuant to Part II or Part IV of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894.
(2) The Minister may by order declare that any provision of this Act shall not apply to a class or classes of employment specified in the order and from the commencement of the order this Act shall not apply to that class or those classes.
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) or (2) of this section, the Minister may by order declare that any provision of this Act shall apply to a class or classes of employment specified in the order and from the commencement of the order this Act shall apply to that class or those classes.
(4) An order made by the Minister under this section may include such transitional and other supplemental and incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient.
(5) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order made under this section, including this subsection.
Annotations:
Amendments:
F3
Substituted (30.11.1984) by Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984 (21/1984), s. 13(a), commenced on enactment.
F4
Deleted (4.07.2006) by Civil Service Regulation (Amendment) Act 2005 (18/2005)), s. 26(a), S.I. No. 363 of 2006.
Modifications (not altering text):
C3
The limitation on the application of this Act imposed by subs. (1)(a) is restricted (20.12.2001) by Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (45/2001), s. 8, S.I. No. 636 of 2001.
Application of relevant enactments.
8.—Each relevant enactment shall apply to a part-time employee in the same manner, and subject to the like exceptions not inconsistent with this section, as it applies, other than by virtue of this Act, to an employee to whom that enactment relates.
Editorial Notes:
E6
Power to amend subs. (1)(a) by order so as to vary the number of hours specified in that paragraph provided (30.11.1984) by Protection of Employees (Employers Insolvency) Act 1984 (21/1984), s. 11(4)(a), commenced on enactment.
E7
Previous affecting provision: the limitation imposed by subs. (1)(a) was reduced to 8 hours under certain circumstances (6.04.1991) by Worker Protection (Regular Part-Time Employees) Act 1991 (5/1991), s. 1(1)(b) and other definitions, S.I. No. 75 of 1991; repealed (20.12.2001) by Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001(45/1991), s. 5, S.I. No. 636 of 2001.
Minimum period of notice.
4.—(1) An employer shall, in order to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for a period of thirteen weeks or more, give to that employee a minimum period of notice calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The minimum notice to be given by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of his employee shall be—
(a) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for less than two years, one week,
(b) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for two years or more, but less than five years, two weeks,
(c) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for five years or more, but less than ten years, four weeks,
(d) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for ten years or more, but less than fifteen years, six weeks,
(e) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for fifteen years or more, eight weeks.
(3) The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall apply for the purposes of ascertaining the period of service of an employee and whether that service has been continuous.
(4) The Minister may by order vary the minimum period of notice specified in subsection (2) of this section.
(5) Any provision in a contract of employment, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, which provides for a period of notice which is less than the period of notice specified in subsection (2) of this section, shall have effect as if that contract provided for a period of notice in accordance with this section.
(6) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this section including this subsection.
Annotations:
Editorial Notes:
E8
Redress and appeal procedures in respect of subs. (2) provided (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), ss. 41, 44 and sch. 5 part 1 item 1, sch. 6 part 1 item 2, sch. 6 part 2 item 2, S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
Rights of employee during period of notice.
5.—(1) The provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the liability of an employer during the period of notice required by this Act to be given—
(a) by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for thirteen weeks or more, and
(b) by an employee who has been in such continuous service to terminate his contract of employment with that employer.
(2) This section shall not apply in any case where an employee gives notice to terminate his contract of employment in response to a notice of lay-off or short-time given by his employer.
(3) Any provision in a contract which purports to exclude or limit the obligation imposed on an employer by this section shall be void.
Annotations:
Editorial Notes:
E9
Redress and appeal procedures in respect of section provided (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), ss. 41, 44 and sch. 5 part 1 item 1, sch. 6 part 1 item 2, sch. 6 part 2 item 2, S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
Section 5
1. Subject to the provisions of this Schedule, an employee shall, during the period of notice, be paid by his employer in accordance with the terms of his contract of employment and shall have the same rights to sick pay or holidays with pay as he would have if notice of termination of his contract of employment had not been given.
Employments for which there are normal working hours
2.(a) (i) An employee shall be paid by his employer in respect of any time during his normal working hours when he is ready and willing to work but no work is provided for him by his employer.
(ii) In this subparagraph “normal working hours” in the case of an employee who is normally expected to work overtime, include the hours during which such overtime is usually worked.
(b) In any case where an employee’s pay is not wholly calculated by reference to time, the pay which his employer is bound to pay him under subparagraph (a) shall be calculated by reference to the average rate of pay earned by the employee in respect of any time worked during the thirteen weeks next preceding the giving of notice.
Employments for which there are no normal working hours
3. Subject to paragraph 4 of this Schedule, an employer shall pay to an employee, if there are no normal working hours for that employee under the contract of employment in force in the period of notice, in respect of each week in the period of notice, a sum not less than the average weekly earnings of the employee in the thirteen weeks next preceding the giving of notice.
4. An employer shall not be liable to pay to his employee any sum under paragraph 3 of this Schedule unless the employee is ready and willing to do work of a reasonable nature and amount to earn remuneration at the rate mentioned in the said paragraph 3.
Right of employer to notice.
6.—An employer shall, subject to the right of an employee to give counter-notice under section 10 of the Act of 1967 or to give notice of intention to claim redundancy payment in respect of lay-off or short-time under section 12 of that Act, be entitled to not less than one week’s notice from an employee who has been in his continuous employment for thirteen weeks or more of that employee’s intention to terminate his contract of employment.
Right to waive notice.
7.—(1) Nothing in this Act shall operate to prevent an employee or an employer from waiving his right to notice on any occasion or from accepting payment in lieu of notice.
(2) In any case where an employee accepts payment in lieu of notice, the date of termination of that person’s employment shall, for the purposes of the Act of 1967, be deemed to be the date on which notice, if given, would have expired.
Right to terminate contract of employment without notice.
8.—Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any employer or employee to terminate a contract of employment without notice because of misconduct by the other party.
Decision of adjudication officer
12. (1) A decision of an adjudication officer under section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 in relation to a complaint of a contravention of section 4(2) or 5 may, where the adjudication officer finds that that section was contravened by the employer in relation to the employee who presented the complaint, include a direction that the employer concerned pay to the employee compensation for any loss sustained by the employee by reason of the contravention.
(2) A decision of an adjudication officer under section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 in relation to a dispute as to the entitlements of an employer under section 6 may include such directions as the adjudication officer considers appropriate.]
Annotations:
Amendments:
F8
Substituted (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015) s. 52(1) and sch. 7 part 1 item 2,, S.I. No. 410 of 2015 subject to transitional provisions in subs. (3).
Editorial Notes:
E11
Relevant redress procedure specified (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 41(5)(b)(i) and sch. 6 part 1 item 2, S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
Decision of Labour Court on appeal
12A. A decision of the Labour Court under section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, on appeal from a decision of an adjudication officer referred to in section 12, shall affirm, vary or set aside the decision of the adjudication officer.]
Annotations:
Amendments:
F9
Inserted (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 52(1) and sch. 7 part 1 item 2, S.I. No. 410 of 2015, subject to transitional provisions in subs. (3).
Editorial Notes:
E12
Relevant redress procedure specified (1.10.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 44(1)(b)(i) and sch. 6 part 2 item 2, S.I. No. 410 of 2015.
Computation of Continuous Service.
Section 4
Continuity of Service
1. The service of an employee in his employment shall be deemed to be continuous unless that service is terminated by—
(a) the dismissal of the employee by his employer, or
(b) the employee voluntarily leaving his employment.
2. A lock-out shall not amount to a dismissal of the employee by his employer.
3. A lay-off shall not amount to the termination by an employer of his employee’s service.
4. A strike by an employee shall not amount to that employee’s voluntarily leaving his employment.
F11[5. An employee who claims and receives redundancy payment in respect of lay-off or short time shall be deemed to have voluntarily left his employment.]
6. The continuous service of an employee in his employment shall not be broken by the dismissal of the employee by his employer followed by the immediate re-employment of the employee.
F12[7. Where the whole or part of a trade, business or undertaking was or is transferred to another person either before or after the passing of this Act, the service of an employee before the transfer in the trade, business or undertaking, or the part thereof so transferred—
(a) shall be reckoned as part of the service of the employee with the transferee, and
(b) the transfer shall not operate to break the continuity of the service of the employee,
unless the employee received and retained redundancy payment from the transferor at the time of and by reason of the transfer.]
Computable Service
8. Any week in which an employee is not normally expected to work for at least F13[eighteen hours] or more will not count in computing a period of service.
9. If an employee is absent from his employment by reason of service in the Reserve Defence Force, such period of absence shall count as a period of service.
10. If an employee is absent from his employment for not more than twenty-six weeks between consecutive periods of employment because of—
(a) a lay-off,
(b) sickness or injury, or
(c) by agreement with his employer,
such period shall count as a period of service.
11. If, in any week or part of a week, an employee is absent from his employment because he was taking part in a strike in relation to the trade or business in which he is employed, that week shall not count as a period of service.
12. If, in any week or part of a week, an employee was, for the whole or any part of the week, absent from work because of a lock-out by his employer, that week shall count as a period of service.
13. If, in any week or part of a week, an employee is absent from his employment by reason of a strike or lock-out in a trade or business other than that in which he is employed, that week shall count as a period of service.
F14[14. For the avoidance of doubt, a civil servant shall be considered as having given continuous service, notwithstanding the fact that the civil servant may have served in more than one Department or Scheduled Office provided that the service would otherwise, by virtue of theprovisions of this Schedule, be considered to be continuous.]
The text in italics on this page is sourced from lawreform.ie and is re-published under the Licence for Re-Use of Public Sector Information made pursuant to Directive 2003/98/EC Directive 2013/37/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the re-use of public sector information transposed into Irish law by the European Communities (Re-Use of Public Sector Information) Regulations 2005 to 2015.
S.I. No. 243/1973 –
Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment (Reference of Disputes) Regulations, 1973.
MINIMUM NOTICE AND TERMS OF EMPLOYMENT (REFERENCE OF DISPUTES) REGULATIONS, 1973.
I, MICHAEL O’LEARY, Minister for Labour, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 39 (19) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 (No. 21 of 1967), and sections 11 and 14 of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 (No. 4 of 1973), hereby make the following regulations:
GENERAL.
1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment (Reference of Disputes) Regulations, 1973.
(2) These Regulations shall come into force on the 1st day of September, 1973.
2. In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 (No. 4 of 1973);
“appellant” has the meaning assigned to it by Regulation 3 of these Regulations;
“dispute”, save where the context otherwise requires, means a dispute referred under section 11 of the Act to the Tribunal;
” the Minister” means the Minister for Labour;
“respondent” has the meaning assigned to it by Regulation 6 of these Regulations.
ORIGINATING APPLICATION.
3. Where a person (in these Regulations referred to as the appellant) desires to have a dispute referred under section 11 of the Act to the Tribunal, he shall give written notice to the Secretary, Redundancy Appeals Tribunal, Dublin.
4. The notice referred to in Regulation 3 of these Regulations shall be given on the form provided by the Minister for the purpose and shall be accompanied by a statement of the facts and contentions on which the appellant intends to reply.
WITHDRAWAL OF REFERENCES.
5. An appellant may withdraw a reference of a dispute to the Tribunal by sending notice of withdrawal to the Secretary, Redundancy Appeals Tribunal, Dublin.
FORWARDING OF REFERENCES.
6. On receipt of a notice referred to in Regulation 3 of these Regulations, the Secretary of the Tribunal shall forward to the employer concerned (in these Regulations referred to as the respondent) a copy of the statement received by him and required by Regulation 4 hereof.
APPEARANCE BY RESPONDENT.
7. (1) A respondent shall within 14 days of receiving a copy of the appropriate notice enter an appearance to the proceedings by sending to the Secretary, Redundancy Appeals Tribunal, Dublin, a statement indicating whether he intends to contest the reference and, if so, to what extent the facts and contentions advanced by the appellant are admitted or disputed.
(2) Subject to paragraph (3) of this regulation, a respondent who has not entered an appearance as required by paragraph (1) hereof shall not be entitled to take any part in the reference proceedings or to be represented thereat.
(3) A respondent may apply within the 14-day period mentioned in the said paragraph (1) for an extension of the time in which to enter an appearance.
(4) When the Secretary of the Tribunal receives a notice of appearance from a respondent, he shall forthwith send a copy thereof to the relevant appellant.
REGISTER OF REFERENCES.
8. (1) A decision of the Tribunal on a dispute shall be entered in a Register of References and a copy of the decision shall be sent to the appellant and to any other person concerned.
(2) The Register of References shall be open to inspection by any person without charge during normal business hours.
(3) In case the chairman of the Tribunal by certificate under his hand corrects a clerical mistake, error or omission in a decision of the Tribunal on a dispute, the correction shall be duly entered in the Register of References and a copy of the corrected decision shall be sent to the appellant and to any other person concerned.
NOTICES.
9. (1) Any notice required by these Regulations shall be in writing, and all notices and documents required or authorised by these Regulations to be sent or given to any person may be deemed to have been duly sent if sent by registered post and directed—
(i) in the case of the Secretary of the Tribunal, to the Secretary, Redundancy Appeals Tribunal, Dublin.
(ii) in the case of an appellant, to the address specified in the notice given by him pursuant to Regulation 3 of these Regulations,
(iii) in the case of any other person, to his usual or last-known address or his place of business,
(iv) in the case of a body corporate, to its registered office.
(2) Any such notice or document if sent or given to the authorised representative of a person shall be deemed to have been sent or given to that person.
(3) A party to a dispute may at any time by notice to the Tribunal and to any other party or parties concerned in the dispute change his address for service under these Regulations.
APPLICATION AND NON-APPLICATION OF CERTAIN OTHER REGULATIONS.
10. (1) Regulations 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17 (1), 17 (2), 19 and 24 of the Regulations of 1968 shall apply to a dispute as they apply to references to the Tribunal under section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 (No. 21 of 1967), and any reference to an appeal in the regulations hereinbefore specified shall be construed as including a reference to a dispute.
(2) Regulations 20 (2) and 20A (3) (inserted by Regulation 2 of the Redundancy (Redundancy Appeals Tribunal) (Amendment) Regulations, 1969 ( S.I. No. 26 of 1969 )) of the Regulations of 1968 shall not apply to a dispute.
(3) In this Regulation “the Regulations of 1968” means the Redundancy (Redundancy Appeals Tribunal) Regulations, 1968 ( S.I. No. 24 of 1968 ).
GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 17th day of August, 1973.
MICHAEL O’LEARY,
Minister for Labour.
EXPLANATORY NOTE.
These regulations prescribe the manner in which disputes under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 shall be referred to the Redundancy Appeals Tribunal.