TDs and Senators of a Dail committee have given the green light to the automatic right of 10 days sick pay a year for all workers.
It will be protected by law and be enforceable in the case of disputes through the Workplace Relations Commission and the courts.
In a phased approach, this year, a worker will be entitled to three days paid sick leave from their employer up to 70% of the day’s pay, capped at €110.
Sick pay will go up to five days payable in 2023 and seven days in 2024.
In 2025, the final year of the phasing, employers will pay 10 days per year.
The plan was first announced by Enterprise Minister Leo Varadkar last June.
It was supposed to be in place by January 1, but a number of legislative delays means it will be later in the year before it becomes law.
It has now passed one of the last tricky hurdles in the political process, known as pre-legislative scrutiny, and is expected to pass all remaining votes in the Dail and Seanad with all-party support.
Launching the report, Committee Cathaoirleach, Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan said: “Ireland is an outlier as one of the few advanced countries in Europe with no mandatory sick pay scheme.
“At present, there is no statutory obligation on an employer to pay for a medically-certified absence of an employee due to illness.
“While many employers do provide such sick pay, employees who do not receive such sick pay are disadvantaged.
“We also know that it may act to encourage such employees to attend for work even though they are ill.
“In the context of the current public health situation, this is very undesirable.”
Mr Quinlivan said that the committee still has some things they’d like to see change.
“The committee has concerns about the requirement of medical certification and does not want the requirement to act as an additional obstacle in accessing this important right.
“However, the committee also realises the careful balance of an employer’s right to request medical certification in certain cases where the timing and frequency of an illness may be questioned and the cost burden that will arise for employers, in particular small business employers, with the phased graduation of days in the coming years, up to 2025.”
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