Responding to the signing of the Sick Leave Bill into law by the President, Irish Congress of Trade Unions general secretary Patricia King said: “This landmark legislation ends our failed voluntary approach to sick pay and will be an enduring positive legacy of the pandemic.
“ICTU instigated the campaign to make sick pay mandatory to bring us to this point today, and we will continue to press for improvements in the annual reviews of the scheme. “Up to now, Ireland was one of just a handful of wealthy countries globally that did not guarantee workers paid sick leave from their employer when unfit for work. “Paid sick days were treated as a perk of the job that employers could decide whether or not to include in a contract of employment. As a result, up to half of our workforce, over one million employees, are not covered for sick pay in their terms and conditions.
“Hundreds of thousands of low-paid essential workers have had to continue to work when ill or injured out of financial necessity. The Covid clusters among meat plant workers denied sick pay from profitable employers was a glaring example of this and its consequences.
“Ensuring workers are well at work is a basic issue of safety and simply the right thing to do. When workers are unwell they need to rest to recover. When sick workers stay home they reduce the spread of infection and the risk of workplace accidents. What has long been the norm across Europe is now recognised in our employment laws and has overwhelming public support*.”
*(September 2020) Ireland Thinks monthly poll shows 9 in 10 (87%) people believe workers should have a legal right to sick pay from their employer.
