Vol. 482 No. 5
69 Dr. Upton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the introduction of new legislation to cover the legal and contractual situation of teleworkers in line with a recent report of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18362/97]
Teleworkers are people who work from home or a local centre and use telecommunications equipment, for example, telephone, fax machine, computer, CDrom, the Internet etc. for a substantial part of their job. They may be self-employed, part-time or full-time employees and work for one employer or several clients. The legal status of a teleworker, in a particular case, is determined by the nature of the contract with the employerclient.
In general, employment protection legislation applies to employees, that is persons who are employed under a contract of service or apprenticeship, including persons employed on fixed term contracts and persons employed on contracts for a specified purpose. Thus, teleworkers who fall into the category of employees are covered by labour protection legislation.
Similarly, persons working under a contract for services, that is, persons who are self-employed, do not come within the scope of labour protection legislation by virtue of the fact that they are not employees. Thus, teleworkers who are self-employed are not covered by such legislation.
I should point out that labour laws attempt only to regulate employer-employee relationships and do not regulate self-employment. The question of whether or not an individual's employment relationship comes within the scope of specific labour law is a matter for the relevant adjudicative body under the relevant Act.
I do not consider that the extension of traditional labour law to cover self-employed persons is warranted at this time. This matter will be kept under continuing review in the light of any future developments, particularly within the EU. I should point out that in this country at present all teleworkers, whether self-employed or otherwise, are fully protected in so far as their occupational safety and health is concerned by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989, and its associated regulations.
