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Irish Mirror

National

Sophie Collins

Thousands of workers to get €110 a day for sick day as experts hit out over fears of 'perfect storm' amid cost of living crisis

Excel Recruitment Ireland

Thousands of Irish workers will soon be entitled to paid sick leave equal to 70% of their normal wages - up to a maximum €110 per day.

It’s understood that around one-in-ten employees will benefit from the scheme, however, recruitment experts are calling on the Government to provide further clarity on the implementation of the Statutory Sick Pay Bill before it comes into effect.

At the moment, the plan is that from January 1, 2023, workers will have a right to:

Paid sick leave for up to 3 sick days per year. This will increase to 5 days in 2024, 7 days in 2025 and 10 days in 2026.
A rate of payment for statutory sick leave of 70% of normal wages to be paid by employers (up to a maximum €110 per day).
Take a complaint to the WRC where they are not provided with a company sick pay scheme.

Excel Recruitment today warned that there is a major lack of information on this development which is set to affect thousands of employers around the country.

The recruitment firm says that it appears that the Department does not know the number of employers that already have a paid sick leave scheme, which, they say, “is worrying as it infers that the Minister may not be aware of the true financial impact that this scheme will have on private sector employees.”

Barry Whelan, CEO of Excel Recruitment explained: “The most recent CSO stats show that in Ireland, almost eight out of ten (1,463,000) of employed people worked in the private sector, while 22pc (415,000) worked in the public sector - including in semi-state bodies.

“The Tánaiste indicated that sick leave is provided to about half of all employees through their terms and conditions, so with almost all public sector workers already entitled to sick pay, that infers that almost two thirds (64pc) of employees in the private sector don’t currently have paid sick leave as part of their terms and conditions.

“This really has the makings of a perfect storm for SMEs throughout the country. SMEs employ seven in every ten workers in Ireland.

“This mandatory sick pay legislation will hit employers at the same time as the biggest ever increase in the minimum wage. With the statutory sick pay bill, workers will have a right to paid sick leave for up to three sick days per year in 2023, increasing to five days in 2024, seven days in 2025 and ten days in 2026.

“However, since the President signed the Statutory Sick Pay Bill into legislation, the issue has got very little attention.

“We know from speaking with these employers that there is a huge amount of uncertainty about the upcoming sick pay legislation. Experience tells us that in both the public or private sector, staff often see sick pay leave as annual leave - so employers essentially have to plan to approve three additional “annual leave” days a year from next year for every employee”.

Excel Recruitment says there has already been a sharp rise in the number of companies going bust this year – as businesses have been hit with rising energy costs, record levels of inflation and supply chain issues along with increased wages which leaves severe pressure on the operating margins of businesses throughout Ireland.

They said that with the latest introduction of the new sick pay bill, companies continue to become fraught with uncertainty.

“The Government needs to do more to shield businesses and employers from the cost-of-living crisis while also setting out a clear roadmap of the oncoming changes.

“A greater recognition of the impact on employers of minimum wage increases and the new sick pay rules is absolutely warranted – otherwise, we will see a huge amount of business shut up shop in the coming months and a huge amount of people losing their jobs as a result. 2023 could be a very tough year for many people as a result.

“There seems to be a belief that employers can absorb whatever costs the Government sends it way – however the uptake in insolvency figures shows clearly that this is not the case.

“Any increase in the number of businesses going bust will have a huge impact on the Irish economy. SMEs – the lifeblood of the Irish economy - are very much in the firing line during times of economic turmoil. SMEs make up 99.8pc of all enterprises”.

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