1.—(1) In this Act—

“the Act of 1973” means the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973;

“the Council Directive” means Council Directive No. 91/533/EEC of 14 October, 1991⁽¹⁾;

F1[‘contract of employment’ means—

(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 either the Employment Agency Act 1971 or the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012 and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and if express, whether it is oral or in writing; ]

“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment 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 otherwise as a civil servant, within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956, shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or Government, as the case may be, and an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the F2[Local Government Act 2001 (as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014)], a harbour authority, a health board or F3[an education and training board] shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority F3[or board], as the case may be;

“employer”, in relation to an employee, means 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;

F4[‘employment regulation order’ means an employment regulation order within the meaning of Part IV of the Industrial Relations Act 1946; ]

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

F4[‘registered employment agreement’ means a registered employment agreement within the meaning of Part III of the Industrial Relations Act 1946.]

“the Tribunal” means the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

(2) A word or expression that is used in this Act and is also used in the Council Directive has, unless the contrary intention appears, the meaning in this Act that it has in the Council Directive.

(3) In this Act—

(a) a reference to any enactment shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including this Act,

(b) a reference to a section is a reference to a section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended,

(c) a reference to a subsection, paragraph or subparagraph is a reference to the subsection, paragraph or subparagraph of the provision in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

2.—(1) This Act shall not apply to—

(a) employment in which the employee is normally expected to work for the employer for less than 8 hours in a week, or

(b) employment in which the employee has been in the continuous service of the employer for less than 1 month.

(2) Where the exclusion of a class or classes of employment from any provision of this Act is justified by objective considerations, the Minister may, after consultation with representatives of employers and of employees within that class or classes of employment, by order declare that that provision shall not apply to that class or those classes of employment and this Act shall have effect in accordance with the provisions of any such order for the time being in force.

(3) The First Schedule to the Act of 1973 shall apply for the purpose of ascertaining for the purposes of this Act the period of service of an employee and whether that service has been continuous with the following modifications and with any other necessary modifications—

(a) the reference to 21 hours shall be construed as a reference to 8 hours,

(b) the references to an employee shall be construed as references to an employee within the meaning of this Act.

(4) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this section, including an order under this subsection.

3.—(1) An employer shall, not later than 2 months after the commencement of an employee’s employment with the employer, give or cause to be given to the employee a statement in writing containing the following particulars of the terms of the employee’s employment, that is to say—

(a) the full names of the employer and the employee,

(b) the address of the employer in the State or, where appropriate, the address of the principal place of the relevant business of the employer in the State or the registered office (within the meaning of the Companies Act, 1963),

(c) the place of work or, where there is no fixed or main place of work, a statement specifying that the employee is required or permitted to work at various places,

(d) the title of the job or nature of the work for which the employee is employed,

(e) the date of commencement of the employee’s contract of employment,

(f) in the case of a temporary contract of employment, the expected duration thereof or, if the contract of employment is for a fixed term, the date on which the contract expires,

F5[(fa) a reference to any registered employment agreement or employment regulation order which applies to the employee and confirmation of where the employee may obtain a copy of such agreement or order, ]

F6[(g) the rate or method of calculation of the employee’s remuneration and the pay reference period for the purposes of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000,

(ga) that the employee may, under section 23 of the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, request from the employer a written statement of the employee’s average hourly rate of pay for any pay reference period as provided in that section,]

(h) the length of the intervals between the times at which remuneration is paid, whether a week, a month or any other interval,

(i) any terms or conditions relating to hours of work (including overtime),

(j) any terms or conditions relating to paid leave (other than paid sick leave),

(k) any terms or conditions relating to—

(i) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury and paid sick leave, and

(ii) pensions and pension schemes,

(l) the period of notice which the employee is required to give and entitled to receive (whether by or under statute or under the terms of the employee’s contract of employment) to determine the employee’s contract of employment or, where this cannot be indicated when the information is given, the method for determining such periods of notice,

(m) a reference to any collective agreements which directly affect the terms and conditions of the employee’s employment including, where the employer is not a party to such agreements, particulars of the bodies or institutions by whom they were made.

(2) A statement shall be given to an employee under subsection (1) notwithstanding that the employee’s employment ends before the end of the period within which the statement is required to be given.

(3) The particulars specified in paragraphs (g), (h), (i), (j), (k) and (l) of the said subsection (1), may be given to the employee in the form of a reference to provisions of statutes or instruments made under statute or of any other laws or of any administrative provisions or collective agreements, governing those particulars which the employee has reasonable opportunities of reading during the course of the employee’s employment or which are reasonably accessible to the employee in some other way.

(4) A statement furnished by an employer under subsection (1) shall be signed and dated by or on behalf of the employer.

(5) A copy of the said statement shall be retained by the employer during the period of the employee's employment and for a period of 1 year thereafter.

(6) (a) The Minister may by order require employers to give or cause to be given to employees within a specified time a statement in writing containing such particulars of the terms of their employment (other than those referred to in subsection (1)) as may be specified in the order and employers shall comply with the provisions of such an order.

(b) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection, including an order under this paragraph.

(7) This section (other than subsection (6)) shall not apply or have effect as respects contracts of employment entered into before the commencement of this Act.

4.—(1) Where, after the commencement of this Act, an employee is required to work outside the State for a period of not less than 1 month, the employer concerned shall give or cause to be given to the employee, prior to the departure of the employee from the State, a statement under section 3 and there shall be added to the statement the following particulars, that is to say—

(a) the period of employment outside the State,

(b) the currency in which the employee is to be remunerated in respect of that period,

(c) any benefits in cash or kind for the employee attendant on the employment outside the State,

(d) the terms and conditions, where appropriate, governing the employee’s repatriation.

(2) The particulars referred to in paragraphs (b) and (c) of subsection (1) may be given in the form of a reference to provisions of statutes or instruments made under statute or of any other laws or of any administrative provisions or collective agreements, governing such particulars.

5.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), whenever a change is made or occurs in any of the particulars of the statement furnished by an employer under section 3, 4 or 6, the employer shall notify the employee in writing of the nature and date of the change as soon as may be thereafter, but not later than—

(a) 1 month after the change takes effect, or

(b) where the change is consequent on the employee being required to work outside the State for a period of more than 1 month, the time of the employee’s departure.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to a change occurring in provisions of statutes or instruments made under statute F7[, other than a registered employment agreement or employment regulation order,] or of any other laws or of any administrative provisions or collective agreements referred to in the statement given under section 3 or 4.

6.—(1) Where, before the commencement of this Act, an employee has entered into a contract of employment with an employer, then, the employer shall, if so requested by the employee, furnish to the employee a statement under section 3 and, if so requested by the employee, there shall be added to the statement the particulars specified in section 4.

(2) An employer shall, within 2 months after the employer has been required to do so under subsection (1) furnish to the employee concerned a written statement in accordance with that subsection.

6A.— (1) Where it appears to an inspector that an employer has contravened section 3, 4, 5 or 6 the inspector may, where he or she considers it appropriate, give a direction to the employer to comply with the provision concerned within such period as is specified in the direction.

F9[(2) In this section ‘inspector’ has the same meaning as it has in the Workplace Relations Act 2015.]]

F10[7.—(1) An employee shall not be entitled to present a complaint under section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 in respect of a contravention of section 3, 4, 5 or 6, if the employer concerned has—

(a) complied with a direction under section 6A given in relation to the contravention F11[before, on or after the commencement of section 8 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015], or

(b) been given a direction under that section in relation to the contravention and the period specified in the direction within which he or she is required to comply with the direction has not yet expired.

(2) A decision of an adjudication officer under section 41 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 in relation to a complaint of a contravention of section 3, 4, 5 or 6 shall do one or more of the following, namely—

(a) declare that the complaint was or, as the case may be, was not well founded,

(b) either—

(i) confirm all or any of the particulars contained or referred to in any statement furnished by the employer under section 3, 4, 5 or 6, or

(ii) alter or add to any such statement for the purpose of correcting any inaccuracy or omission in the statement and the statement as so altered or added to shall be deemed to have been given to the employee by the employer,

(c) require the employer to give or cause to be given to the employee concerned a written statement containing such particulars as may be specified by the adjudication officer,

(d) order the employer to pay to the employee compensation of such amount (if any) as the adjudication officer considers just and equitable having regard to all of the circumstances, but not exceeding 4 weeks’ remuneration in respect of the employee’s employment calculated in accordance with regulations under section 17 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.]

F12[8.—A decision of the Labour Court under section 44 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015, on appeal from a decision of an adjudication officer referred to in section 7, shall affirm, vary or set aside the decision of the adjudication officer.]

9.—F13[…]

10.—F14[…]

11.—Every order or regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order or regulation is passed by either such House within the next 21 days on which that House has sat after the order or regulation is laid before it, the order or regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

12.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

13.—Sections 9 and 10 of the Act of 1973 are hereby repealed.

14.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister may appoint by order.