Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023

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PART 3

Requests for remote working arrangements

Interpretation (Part 3)

16. (1) In this Part—

“Act of 1998” means the Parental Leave Act 1998 ;

“Act of 2015” means the Workplace Relations Act 2015 ;

“adjudication officer” means a person appointed under section 40 of the Act of 2015;

“approved remote working arrangement” means a remote working arrangement, the request for which has been approved under section 21 (1)(b)(i);

“code of practice” means, in relation to a provision of this Part, any code of practice for the time being standing approved in accordance with Part 4 ;

“Commission” means the Workplace Relations Commission;

“continuous employment” includes employment completed by an employee under 2 or more continuous fixed-term contracts with the same employer;

“contract of employment” means, subject to subsection (2)—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person, who is carrying on the business of an employment agency (within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 ), and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for another person (whether or not that other person is a party to the contract);

“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 Part, 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;

“employer” means, in relation to an employee, the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment subject to the qualification that the person who under a contract of employment referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of “contract of employment” is liable to pay the wages of the individual concerned in respect of the work or service concerned shall be deemed to be the individual’s employer and includes, where appropriate, an associated employer of the employer;

“fixed-term employee” has the same meaning as it has in the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 ;

“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;

“part-time employee” has the same meaning as it has in the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 ;

“remote working arrangement” means an arrangement whereby some or all of the work ordinarily carried out by an employee at an employer’s place of business under a contract of employment is provided at a location other than at the employer’s place of business without change to the employee’s ordinary working hours or duties;

“request for a remote working arrangement” means a request referred to in section 20 (1).

(2) For the purposes of this Part, 2 employers shall be taken to be associated if one is a body corporate of which the other (whether directly or indirectly) has control or if both are bodies corporate of which a third person (whether directly or indirectly) has control and “associated employer” shall be construed accordingly.