Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023

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Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

3. The Principal Act is amended in section 2—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by the insertion of the following definitions:

“‘Act of 2015’ means the Workplace Relations Act 2015 ;

‘adopting parent’ means a qualifying adopter or a surviving parent within the meaning of the definitions of ‘qualifying adopter’ and ‘surviving parent’ in section 2 (1) of the Adoptive Leave Act 1995 but as if, in both of those definitions, ‘or is to be placed’ were omitted in each place where it occurs;

‘adoptive parent’, in relation to a child, means a person in whose favour an adoption order in respect of the child has been made and is in force;

‘approved flexible working arrangement’ means a flexible working arrangement, the request for which has been approved under section 13C(1)(b)(i);

‘civil partner’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;

‘code of practice’ means any code of practice for the time being standing approved in accordance with Part 4 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023;

‘cohabitant’ shall be construed in accordance with section 172 (1) of the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;

‘continuous employment’ includes employment completed by an employee under two or more continuous fixed-term contracts with the same employer;

‘flexible working arrangement’ means a working arrangement where an employee’s working hours or patterns are adjusted, including through the use of remote working arrangements, flexible working schedules or reduced working hours;

‘household’ means a person who lives alone or 2 or more persons who live together;

‘relevant parent’, in relation to a child, means a person who is—

(a) the parent, the adoptive parent or the adopting parent in respect of the child, or

(b) acting in loco parentis to the child;

‘request for a flexible working arrangement’ means a request referred to under section 13B(1);”,

(ii) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “employee”:

“‘employee’ means a person of any age who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and includes a part-time employee and a fixed-term employee, and references, in relation to an employer, to an employee shall be construed as references to an employee employed by that employer; and for the purposes of this Act, a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces or a civil servant within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 ) shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the head (within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act 2014 ), of the public body (within the meaning aforesaid) in which he or she is employed and an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 (as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014 ), or of a harbour authority, the Health Service Executive or a member of staff of an education and training board shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority, Executive or board, as the case may be;”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3):

“(3A) For the purposes of this Act, a person shall be considered to be in need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason where, owing to the person’s disability, injury or illness, he or she requires such care or support that includes the presence of the employee at the place where the person is.”,

and

(c) by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (4):

“(4) A word or expression used in this Act and also in Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of 20 June 2019² shall have the same meaning in this Act as in that Directive.”.

² OJ No. L188, 12.7.2019, p.79