New legislation giving workers a statutory right to request remote working is “stacked in favour of the employer,” according to the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU).
The organisation will tell a meeting of the Oireachtas Enterprise Committee on Wednesday that the proposed laws should include wider grounds to appeal if a worker's request is refused.
Head of social policy at ICTU, Dr Laura Bambrick, told Newstalk radio that the current legislation favours the employer at every turn and is fundamentally flawed.
“From the length of time you have to be with your employer before you can make a request under the Act, to the time the employer has to reply to your request, to the grounds the employer can refuse the request, to the grounds for appeal, and the cap on compensation; everything is stacked in favour of the employer, so this has to be radically changed.
“Currently employees will only be able to make an appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission on technical grounds if they didn’t receive back a request in the stated timeline, or the employer didn’t say what the grounds for refusal are, but they don’t have a right to appeal the reason why it was turned down, and that has to be changed.”
Meanwhile, employers' body Ibec is also due before the Enterprise Committee, where it will suggest giving workers a statutory right to request remote working is "premature".
Time should be taken to experience the post-pandemic workplace before regulating the area, it argues.
