Joint Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment publishes its report on the Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2022

The proposed Bill is just one element of the Government’s broader Remote Working Strategy. The increase in home working since March 2020 as a result of Covid-19 has brought remote working to the forefront of working life in Ireland and globally.

The proposed Bill is just one element of the Government’s broader Remote Working Strategy. The increase in home working since March 2020 as a result of Covid-19 has brought remote working to the forefront of working life in Ireland and globally.

In February 2022, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment referred the General Scheme of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill to the Committee for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny.

The Committee agreed to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny and has sought to scrutinise the proposed legislation, providing recommendations on areas where it believes changes or amendments are warranted.

The purpose of the Bill is to make remote working a permanent feature of Ireland’s workforce in a way that can benefit all. 

The Bill aims to provide a legal framework around which requesting, approving, or refusing a request for remote work can be based. It also aims to provide legal clarity and procedures to employers on their obligations for dealing with such requests.

Among the heads identified by the Committee and witnesses for further examination include the number of grounds to refuse a request (Head 12), the requirement for a remote working policy (Head 14), Codes of Practice (Head 18), the six-month service requirement (Head 6), submitting another request (Head 7), the time-limit for a response to a request (Head 10) and the Right of Appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission (Head 16).

The Committee made twenty recommendations in the hope that they will assist the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar in improving this important piece of legislation. 

A number of the recommendations are as follows: 

• The Committee advocates improving the initial right of the worker by removing the need to work 26 weeks before request.

• The Committee recommends remote working should incorporate hybrid and flexible working as well.

• The Committee acknowledges difficulties faced by small and medium enterprises regarding the drafting of policies relating remote working. Bureaucracy should be kept to a minimum for such enterprises and supports should be provided where this is the case.

• The Committee recommends that codes of Good Practice are quickly evolved so that once in place, refusals must be grounded in a stated policy from employers, founded on these codes.

• The Committee proposes the principles underpinning a reasonable Code of Practice should now be set out in law and allow the WRC to design how they should be applied in different workplace situations.

• The Committee proposes legislation should mandate the WRC to draw up a Code of Practice in the first instance upon which the policies of employers would be based. This code could be changed as required as technology and other factors change and evolve.

• The Committee recommends introducing tighter grounds in primary legislation so that unreasonable refusal should be open to challenge.

• The Committee notes the employer should retain the right to respond within 12 weeks if the employer can cite a reason such as the need to engage health and safety consultants or check a proposed remote working location for internet quality.  

Launching the report, Committee Cathaoirleach Deputy Maurice Quinlivan TD said: “The sudden introduction of homeworking often resulted in less-than-ideal working conditions for both employers and employees. This Bill aims to provide a comprehensive framework to support different working arrangements on a more permanent basis.”

 “When this legislation proceeds, the Joint Committee requests that the key issues raised in this report and the conclusions reached during the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny process are taken on board by the Government and implemented.”

Notes to Editor 

Read the report and its recommendations in full here. 

In February 2022, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment referred the General Scheme of the Right to Request Remote Work Bill to the Committee for Pre-Legislative Scrutiny. The Committee agreed to undertake pre-legislative scrutiny and has sought to scrutinise the proposed legislation, providing recommendations on areas where it believes changes or amendments are warranted.