If one day you’re hoping to become a busy small to medium-sized business owner, the words “human resources” may make you want to run a mile. In Ireland, there are approximately 40 pieces of legislation which set the rules for the employment relationship.
Not taking HR seriously can have disastrous consequences. The main concern where SMEs and start-ups are concerned is compliance. You need to ensure that you’re equipped with the basics to attract, assess, hire and manage employees and get the right performance from them. Doing this correctly and appropriately will alleviate risk of penalty, grievance or performance issues. These are some HR basics that any start-up should focus on:
Contract of Employment
The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994–2014 provide that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within the first two months of the commencement of employment. Anyone who works for an employer for a regular wage or salary automatically has a contract of employment. This needs to be rectified as soon as possible to ensure compliance with legislation.
Policies
It is necessary to provide a disciplinary procedure and a grievance procedure to an employee within 28 days of commencement of employment. There is a code of practice set out in legislation that outlines what is needed in these documents, including the right to representation and the right to appeal.
It is vital that you contact a HR practitioner to supply you with these documents as they lay the foundations of your relationships with employees for the future.
Additionally, it is advisable that the company creates best practise procedures for the duties that are done in the workplace. For example, if you have a till or money is taken in on your premises, each employee should get a cash-handling procedure. This would outline the key aspects of the role and the key things they must do – including if breaches occur of these procedures – which will help tighten up cash handling.
Training
An employer has a duty of care to employees to ensure that adequate training is provided. Regulations 68 and 69 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007) requires that all employers provide relevant manual handling training and instruction to all of their employees.
Employees are required to receive training every three years. This applies to anyone who works for an employer, whether they are employed on a full-time or part-time basis, whether they are labourers or whether they sit at a desk.
Work Permit
An employee must have a permit if they are not from the EEA. Check a passport and ask to see the permit. If no permit is produced, do not roster the employee to work. Stamp 4 and Stamp 2 are the most common visas.
• Stamp 2 (student visa): This states the student has to work less than 20 hours per week during the term-time and can work up to 40 hours during college holidays. A breach of the Employment Permits Act can lead to a conviction, with a fine from €3,000 and/or imprisonment for a period up to 12 months; or a conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €250,000 or imprisonment of up to 10 years or both. Therefore, it is vitally important that you put good standards in place at the start. National Minimum Wage
• Experienced adult worker: €9.55
• Workers under 18: €6.69
• Workers in first year of employment over the age of 18: €7.64
• Workers in second year of employment over the age of 18: €8.60
If you receive food (known as board) and/or accommodation (known as lodgings) from your employer, the following amounts are included in the minimum wage calculation:
• €0.85 per hour worked for board only (calculation at hourly rate).
• €22.56 for lodgings only per week, or €3.24 per day.
Hours of Work
Under the Organisation of Working Time legislation, an employer is required to keep detailed records of employees’ working hours. This means you should have a clocking machine or a sheet where employees sign in and out every day, including for their breaks.
Breaks
Workers are entitled to 15 minutes after four hours and 30 minutes of a work period, and 30 minutes after working more than six hours, which can include the first 15-minute break. A break allowed to an employee at the end of the working day is not, under the legislation, regarded as a rest break.
Working Week
No employee should be rostered for more than 48 hours in any working week.
Equality
There are nine grounds of discrimination in Ireland. They are listed below. All HR processes must be free from discrimination from recruitment to terms and conditions of employment, such as pay, for example.
• Gender.
• Civil status.
• Family status.
• Sexual orientations.
• Religion.
• Age.
• Disability.
• Race.
• Membership of traveller community.
Retirement
There is no single fixed mandatory retirement age for employees in Ireland. Employers are lawfully entitled to set individual retirement ages in an employee’s contract of employment. Make sure retirement ages are set in your contracts and you seek guidance on retiring employees if you have an older workforce.
GDPR/Retention of
employee documents
The Data Protection Authority defines personal data as including all data relating to an identifiable living person. Records generated which directly concern the employee (such as performance appraisals) are obviously personal data. However, other information held by an employer might be related to an employee, or ex-employee and, thus, will also fall within the scope of this definition. For example, emails or memos written and/or signed by an employee may constitute his/her personal data.
To conclude, it’s imperative that you consider the basics in HR best practices before you engage in the employment relationship. For further information from The HR Suite, call 01-901-4335 or 066-710-2887 or email info@thehrsuiteonline.com CL
If one day you’re hoping to become a busy small to medium-sized business owner, the words “human resources” may make you want to run a mile. In Ireland, there are approximately 40 pieces of legislation which set the rules for the employment relationship.
Not taking HR seriously can have disastrous consequences. The main concern where SMEs and start-ups are concerned is compliance. You need to ensure that you’re equipped with the basics to attract, assess, hire and manage employees and get the right performance from them. Doing this correctly and appropriately will alleviate risk of penalty, grievance or performance issues. These are some HR basics that any start-up should focus on:
Contract of Employment
The Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994–2014 provide that an employer is obliged to provide an employee with a written statement of terms of employment within the first two months of the commencement of employment. Anyone who works for an employer for a regular wage or salary automatically has a contract of employment. This needs to be rectified as soon as possible to ensure compliance with legislation.
Policies
It is necessary to provide a disciplinary procedure and a grievance procedure to an employee within 28 days of commencement of employment. There is a code of practice set out in legislation that outlines what is needed in these documents, including the right to representation and the right to appeal.
It is vital that you contact a HR practitioner to supply you with these documents as they lay the foundations of your relationships with employees for the future.
Additionally, it is advisable that the company creates best practise procedures for the duties that are done in the workplace. For example, if you have a till or money is taken in on your premises, each employee should get a cash-handling procedure. This would outline the key aspects of the role and the key things they must do – including if breaches occur of these procedures – which will help tighten up cash handling.
Training
An employer has a duty of care to employees to ensure that adequate training is provided. Regulations 68 and 69 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 299 of 2007) requires that all employers provide relevant manual handling training and instruction to all of their employees.
Employees are required to receive training every three years. This applies to anyone who works for an employer, whether they are employed on a full-time or part-time basis, whether they are labourers or whether they sit at a desk.
Work Permit
An employee must have a permit if they are not from the EEA. Check a passport and ask to see the permit. If no permit is produced, do not roster the employee to work. Stamp 4 and Stamp 2 are the most common visas.
• Stamp 2 (student visa): This states the student has to work less than 20 hours per week during the term-time and can work up to 40 hours during college holidays. A breach of the Employment Permits Act can lead to a conviction, with a fine from €3,000 and/or imprisonment for a period up to 12 months; or a conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €250,000 or imprisonment of up to 10 years or both. Therefore, it is vitally important that you put good standards in place at the start. National Minimum Wage
• Experienced adult worker: €9.55
• Workers under 18: €6.69
• Workers in first year of employment over the age of 18: €7.64
• Workers in second year of employment over the age of 18: €8.60
If you receive food (known as board) and/or accommodation (known as lodgings) from your employer, the following amounts are included in the minimum wage calculation:
• €0.85 per hour worked for board only (calculation at hourly rate).
• €22.56 for lodgings only per week, or €3.24 per day.
Hours of Work
Under the Organisation of Working Time legislation, an employer is required to keep detailed records of employees’ working hours. This means you should have a clocking machine or a sheet where employees sign in and out every day, including for their breaks.
Breaks
Workers are entitled to 15 minutes after four hours and 30 minutes of a work period, and 30 minutes after working more than six hours, which can include the first 15-minute break. A break allowed to an employee at the end of the working day is not, under the legislation, regarded as a rest break.
Working Week
No employee should be rostered for more than 48 hours in any working week.
Equality
There are nine grounds of discrimination in Ireland. They are listed below. All HR processes must be free from discrimination from recruitment to terms and conditions of employment, such as pay, for example.
• Gender.
• Civil status.
• Family status.
• Sexual orientations.
• Religion.
• Age.
• Disability.
• Race.
• Membership of traveller community.
Retirement
There is no single fixed mandatory retirement age for employees in Ireland. Employers are lawfully entitled to set individual retirement ages in an employee’s contract of employment. Make sure retirement ages are set in your contracts and you seek guidance on retiring employees if you have an older workforce.
GDPR/Retention of
employee documents
The Data Protection Authority defines personal data as including all data relating to an identifiable living person. Records generated which directly concern the employee (such as performance appraisals) are obviously personal data. However, other information held by an employer might be related to an employee, or ex-employee and, thus, will also fall within the scope of this definition. For example, emails or memos written and/or signed by an employee may constitute his/her personal data.
To conclude, it’s imperative that you consider the basics in HR best practices before you engage in the employment relationship. For further information from The HR Suite, call 01-901-4335 or 066-710-2887 or email info@thehrsuiteonline.com CL
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