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Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2021
- #health and safety
- #Homeworking
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has published details of a new law which will give employees the right to request remote working. This will provide a legal framework around which requesting, approving or refusing a request for remote work can be based.
The Bill as proposed will provide employees with a statutory right to make, or to have made on their behalf, a request for remote working, to require an employer to deal with a request as soon as possible but not later than 12 weeks after receiving it, to provide that an employer may refuse a request if it cannot be accommodated on reasonable grounds, to place a requirement on employers to maintain a policy on remote work which can be inspected by employees and the Workplace Relations Commission, to provide for reference of the matter to the Workplace Relations Commission if an employer does not deal with a request in accordance with the process specified in this Part, and to provide for related matters. As set out in the Bill, an employer may, having given the application due consideration, decline a request for remote working stating the reasonable business grounds for so doing which may include but are not limited to the following 13 reasons:- The nature of the work not allowing for the work to be done remotely
- Cannot organise work among existing staff
- Potential impact on quality
- Potential negative impact on performance
- Planned structural changes
- Burden of additional costs, taking into account the financial and other costs entailed and the financial resources of the employer’s business
- Concerns re the protection of business confidentiality or intellectual property rights
- Concerns re the suitability of the proposed workspaces on health and safety grounds
- Concerns re the suitability of the proposed workspaces on data protection grounds
- Concerns re the internet connectivity of proposed remote working location
- Inordinate distance between the proposed location and on-site location
- If the proposed remote working arrangement conflicts with the of applicable collective agreement
- Ongoing or recently concluded formal disciplinary processes