Holly Cairns
Question:116. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his Department’s plans to implement the statutory sick pay scheme. [17043/24]
View answerThursday, 18 April 2024
Questions (116)
Written answers
As I have already set out for the Deputy, the Sick Leave Act which commenced on 1 January 2023 provided an initial statutory entitlement of 3 days which increased to 5 days on 1 January 2024. This will potentially increase to 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026.
Payment by employers to employees for statutory sick leave days is currently set at 70% of an employee’s average gross earnings, up to daily cap of €110. The rate of 70% was chosen to ensure excessive costs were not placed on employers, who in certain sectors may also have to deal with the cost of replacing staff who are out sick at short notice.
However I know that some businesses, particularly SMEs, are facing increased costs and have concerns about the cumulative impacts of increased labour regulation. That is why the Government has introduced a range of measures to support these businesses in adjusting to new measures to improve working conditions, along with more generally improving the cost competitiveness of firms.
Officials in my Department are carefully assessing the impact of statutory sick leave on businesses by sector and company size to inform the decision in respect of the timing and scale of the next phase in the rollout of the scheme, including the number of days covered.
Question No. 117 answered with Question No. 103.