No Government urgency on remote working law, says O’Reilly

Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly claimed there is “no urgency” from Government on providing clarity to workers and the legal status of the right to remote work.

The Dublin Bay North TD said that both workers and employers are “in limbo” as a result of the Work Relations Commission missing the January 31st deadline to finalise the code of practice on remote working.

“On the one hand, we have employers demanding that workers come straight back into the office and, on the other hand, we have employers who want to be able to support their workers but, in the absence of a code of practice, do not necessarily feel able to do so when it comes to remote working,” she told the Dáil.

Fine Gael Minister Simon Coveney said he has seen a draft of the WRC’s work and will submit the findings to the Department of Integration, which has the final say on how the findings are implemented.

Coveney said the right to request remote working is part of Government’s vision to make remote working a “permanent feature of Ireland’s workforce in a way that can benefit all economically, socially and environmentally.”

He stated that under the legislation, employers will be obliged to have regard to a code of practice when considering applications for remote working arrangements.

He further added that it is intended that the provisions of the remote working will be enacted “as soon as is practicable.”

O’Reilly noted that Taoiseach Leo Varadkar promised that the legal right to remote work would be delivered before he left his role as Minister for Enterprise in December 2022 and said “forgive me if I am a little bit sceptical about the Government’s intention in this regard.”

“The Minister says he wants to make remote working a feature. Remote working is a feature of work at the moment. In fact, I have long argued that it should be recognised as a specific form of work, like shift work is, because it is a very specific form of work.”

She said at present, Irish workers “have the worst of all worlds because there are workers who cannot put a permanent arrangement in place.”

“They are on week-to-week or month-to-month arrangement because there is not a code of practice. There are employers who, to be fair to many of them, want to do the right thing but are waiting for this code of practice; I would like to hear some sense of urgency.”

She called on Coveney to give a sense of closure to workers who are in limbo about their rights to remote work.

“I would welcome to hear from the Minister that he understands there are workers now, some of whom are being forced back into the office and do not want to do so and others who want to put their working arrangement on to a permanent footing because they have to deal with childcare and everything else.”

“They do not sense that there is any urgency coming from the Government; to be very clear, it is urgent for those people who need it.”

Coveney responded that there was a “sense of urgency”, but the onus was on Government to “get this right.”

Coveney did not agree with O’Neill’s assertions that Irish workers “have the worst of all worlds at the moment” with regards to remote work.

“Remote working has become a big part of the labour force environment over the last number of years and employees and employers have adapted to that reasonably well. We need more structure around that relationship and more certainty for both employees and employers, which is what the code of conduct is about.”

O’Reilly noted she first raised the issue of clarity surrounding remote working in the Dáil in 2021, and there is still a lack of clarity around the issue in 2024.

“I do not know if the Minister’s version of urgent is massively different to mine but there is three years in the difference; it is now 2024.”

She said that when Varadkar served as Minister for Enterprise, she was told that the issue would be clarified before he left office in December 2022.

“There was a clock ticking from the minute he took office so we understood exactly when that was going to be, as did he. It has not been delivered. The Minister will forgive me if I am somewhat sceptical about the Government’s intentions in this regard.”

Coveney admitted that his department only got the draft code at the end of January, and it is currently in the testing process. He stated “this is a challenging thing to get right,” but based on what he has read, the recommendations “does get the balance right and I think it will be welcomed by employers, workers and worker representatives.”