Latest insights

Does a business restructure or TUPE transfer have any immigration or employment permit implications? The answer is yes: where a restructure involves a TUPE transfer, liability for employing foreign nationals without valid immigration permission will transfer to the new employer, and both parties will need to address their post-transfer notification obligations under the Employment Permits Act 2024.

Cross-border working between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is creating serious compliance risks that many employers don’t see coming.

It may come to light that an employee who once had the right to work in Ireland may no longer have such permission. For example, they may have forgotten to apply for a renewal of their immigration permission before it expired or they may not be able to provide evidence of their immigration status during a repeat right to work check. These scenarios may produce a heart-in-mouth moment for a manager or HR.

In our previous articles, we described employment law and immigration law as two siblings who usually get along fine but occasionally get in each other's way, and right to work checks as the playroom, where both siblings have to play nicely together.

In our introductory article, we described employment law and immigration law as two siblings who usually get along fine but occasionally get in each other's way. If that’s the case, then right to work checks are probably the playroom, where both siblings have to play nicely together. Immigration law insists that no one enters or remains in employment without valid permission. Employment law insists that how you verify that permission doesn't become a vehicle for unlawful discrimination or procedural unfairness.

Employment law and immigration law are two distinct areas of law. However, their interaction can create real difficulties for Irish businesses. In this series, we explore how to navigate scenarios where the rules governing the right to work intersect with employment law in Ireland.

The Pay Transparency Directive was supposed to be transposed into the local law of member states by 7 June 2026. Only four member states met that deadline, and they were Italy, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia. Even then, several of the rights and obligations set out in their transposing legislation are not actually implemented or effective until dates later than the Pay Transparency Directive envisaged.

On 13 May 2026, Minister of State Alan Dillon signed the Employment Permits (Amendment) Regulations 2026, which came into force on 22 May 2026. While not as sweeping as the 2023 overhaul, the Regulations represent a focused refresh of Ireland's employment permit system, targeting sectors where skills shortages have become acute.

Following the landmark Karshan decision, contractor arrangements are under increased scrutiny from Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and the Workplace Relations Commission.

It is not unusual for workplace tensions, sickness absence and performance concerns to arise at the same time. A recent Irish Workplace Relations Commission case sheds light on when the duty to provide reasonable accommodations under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2021 applies for employers where these issues coincide.

In this article, Jacqueline outlines the key points for retailers from the WRC update of the Code of Practice on Access to Part-Time Working, its first update in 20 years.

The new financial year is approaching on 6 April 2026 and coincides with the introduction of updated statutory employment rates and limits along with the introduction of paid miscarriage leave and pivotal UK-wide statutory sick pay (SSP) reforms.

Despite progress in diversity, equality and inclusion, many organisations still adopt a one-size-fits-all approach that may not reflect the needs of the modern workforce. As part of Neurodiversity Celebration Week, we review employers’ legal duties in Ireland to neurodivergent employees and supports that can encourage an inclusive workplace.

The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment has published the results of its first statutory review of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023. The findings of the Review provide a snapshot of Ireland’s flexible working landscape five years after the pandemic and two years (almost to the day) after publication of the Code of Practice on the Right to Request Remote Work.

Ireland has passed its most significant defamation reform in over 15 years. Olivia O'Kane speaks to Newstalk about the landmark Defamation (Amendment) Bill, which abolishes jury trials, introduces a "serious harm" test for corporate claimants, and brings in new anti-SLAPP protections-aligning Irish law more closely with England & Wales and Northern Ireland.

With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, love is in the air and Cupid’s arrow can strike in the workplace! When love at work works, it’s something to be celebrated. However, employers commonly have concerns that the existence of such relationships may give rise to complaints involving bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, breach of confidentiality or conflicts of interest. 

You have a killer business idea and have started building. But to reach the next level, you need capital. So, what are your options?

For the first time since 2006, the Workplace Relations Commission has updated its guidance to employers and employees in relation to access to part-time working arrangements.

As 2026 begins, Ireland’s immigration system is entering a period of significant recalibration, with new remuneration thresholds for employment permits, tougher family reunification rules, evolving citizenship requirements, and a continued pivot to digital systems and compliance-first operations. These domestic shifts sit within a broader context of global tightening, technology‑led controls, and processing pressures that will shape strategy for employers.

Irish employment law continued to evolve through 2025, with legislative movement across pay transparency, pensions, equality, and AI governance, alongside active adjudication before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Courts that will shape risk and practice into 2026. We set out the key developments employers need to track for 2026 and beyond.

In a recent announcement, Ireland’s media regulator Coimisiún na Meán announced a programme of new all-island and cross border media projects and initiatives worth €14 million under a Shared Island Media Fund. The programme encourages cross-border collaboration projects across film, TV, radio, and journalism with a view to showcasing the island’s vast media talent and diverse heritage. The funding was provided by the Department of the Taoiseach under the government’s Shared Island initiative which aims to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement.

Recent enforcement activity has underlined that fair employment monitoring in Northern Ireland is not optional, with a notable £2,000 fine imposed on an employer for breaches of monitoring requirements, signalling renewed focus on compliance by the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI). Employers with more than 10 employees in Northern Ireland are squarely within scope and should ensure their monitoring framework is robust, current and evidenced.

Every December, immigration authorities around the world prepare for their most magical annual visitor: Santa Claus, the only individual globally recognised as holding universal visa-free travel status. While ordinary travelers make pre-entry applications and queue at passport control, Santa simply glides past with a wink – his sleigh having been pre-cleared by international aviation, customs, immigration, and festive‑spirit authorities.

In this episode, Kevin Gallagher is joined by Patricia Coulter of the Labour Relations Agency to unpack Theme B of Northern Ireland’s proposed “Good Jobs” Employment Rights Bill which focuses on Pay and Benefits. They discuss what’s changing (and what’s not) with holiday pay, working time, record-keeping, payslips and tips and Patricia outlines how the LRA supports employers to implement these changes effectively.

The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment (DETE) has unveiled its roadmap to increase minimum annual remuneration (MAR) thresholds across all employment permit types. The first increase is to take effect on 1 March 2026 with further gradual increases to be introduced up until 2030.In this article, we highlight these changes and what further changes are planned, what they mean for employers and some practical steps for employers to take now. 

Back in 1995, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the “DDA”) marked a significant shift across Great Britain and Northern Ireland—the first UK‑wide ban on disability discrimination at work and in services. Thirty years on, Northern Ireland still operates under the DDA, while Great Britain has moved on under the Equality Act 2010. Disability is now front and centre at work with claims in GB rising 40% since 2024 according to Acas, and with the emergence of increasingly diverse forms of disability and new ways of working. The same is very likely true in Northern Ireland. So is it time to modernise Northern Ireland’s framework? 

Research shows that 97% of young people go online every day and 78% of 13 to 17-year-olds check their devices at least hourly. Around 25%...

In our earlier article, we discussed the European Commission’s Digital Omnibus Regulation Proposal, an initiative to streamline and modernise the EU’s digital rulebook. This follow-up takes a deeper dive into some of the data, e-privacy and cyber angles.

In a timely reminder for employers ahead of the festive period, Joanne Hyde writes in the Irish Examiner that seasonal and temporary staff enjoy the same core employment rights as full‑time employees. From equal treatment on pay, working time and holiday accrual to protections against discrimination and unfair treatment, employers should ensure their policies, contracts and onboarding practices reflect these obligations. 

The Lewis Silkin employment team received an interesting query from a new client this week which we thought we would share as a lesson to employers when planning their office party this festive season. 

On 12 September 2025, the European Data Protection Board ("EDPB") published guidelines 3/2025 to clarify the relationship between the...

Ireland has launched its Action Plan to Promote Collective Bargaining 2026-2030. This reaffirms its commitment to voluntarism, favouring encouragement, guidance and financial incentives over legal mandates. 

In a bid to curb the growing risks children face online, members of the European Parliament's Internal Market and Consumer Protection...

In the ongoing global race for AI leadership, the EU Commission (the Commission) launched the Apply AI Strategy (the Strategy) on 8...

In this second part of our series on “Getting Redundancy Right”, we break down the legal requirements of collective consultation and set out practical steps to help you navigate a larger-scale redundancy process with confidence.

In this special episode, Katey Dixon speaks to Andrew Gough, CEO of GCD Technologies on scaling a tech business over 26 years without external investment.

In this episode of the “Good Jobs” mini‑series, Managing Associate Emma Grossmith and Senior Associate Emmie Ellison unpack the headline proposals on zero and low‑hours work in Northern Ireland’s proposed “Good Jobs” Employment Rights Bill. They cover the right to request banded hours, reasonable notice for shifts with proportionate compensation for cancellations, and a ban on exclusivity clauses below the lower earnings limit. They also highlight likely key sector impacts, key differences with the rest of the UK, and the expected timeline for detail.

Despite Northern Ireland initially leading the way with a proposal to extend gender pay gap reporting to include ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting (the intention was first laid out in the Employment (Northern Ireland) Act 2016), in a synopsis of responses to the public consultation on the introduction of gender pay gap reporting in Northern Ireland, the Department for Communities reveals those plans will not be proceeding, at least for now.

Employers in Northern Ireland are coming under growing pressure from economic uncertainty and increasing operational costs due to the rising cost of living and increases to both the National Minimum Wage and employer National Insurance contributions. More and more, we see employers considering and, increasingly, resorting to redundancy to reduce their workforce to weather the storm. In this three-part series on “Getting Redundancy Right”, we guide you through handling individual redundancies, navigating collective redundancies and managing those trickier redundancy issues that can trip up even experienced employers and HR teams.

In this episode, Belfast employment partners Ciara Fulton and Paul Gillen introduce the Department for the Economy’s “Way Forward” response to the recent ‘Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation, marking a potentially major step forward for employment law in Northern Ireland. They set the scene for what these wide-ranging reforms could mean for the world of work in NI, and how organisations can start to think about the changes on the horizon.

The General Employment Permit enables employers in Ireland to recruit workers from outside the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK for a wide range of roles where skills shortages exist. 

The Critical Skills Employment Permit is designed to attract highly skilled workers from outside the EEA, Switzerland, and the UK to fill roles in sectors where there is a shortage of qualified individuals, supporting Ireland’s economic growth. 

This year there has been a marked increase in demand for Irish passports from US applicants, supplementing the surge in applications from UK applicants following Brexit. This has been driven by shifting political landscapes, a connection to the island of Ireland and global mobility opportunities -  the Irish passport is consistently ranked one of the best in the world allowing free movement within the UK and EU but also visa free travel to countries throughout the world. 

Do you need to stay up-to-date with employment law developments across Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? If so, our updated Comparative Table will be a handy reference guide.

Do you need to stay up-to-date with employment law developments across Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? If so, our updated Comparative Table will be a handy reference guide.

It’s the summer season! Whether employees are off to Sri Lanka, Scotland, or settling in for a staycation, Irish employers must ensure that their employees take their annual leave. In this insight article, we have outlined key points for employers to bear in mind this holiday season. 

Ireland has long held a special appeal for non-European nationals, not only due to its rich cultural heritage, but also as an attractive, English-speaking destination within Europe. In recent years, there has been a marked increase in interest from individuals seeking to relocate to Ireland for retirement or to enjoy an extended stay as persons of independent means. If you are considering such a move, Stamp 0 permission offers a viable and structured pathway. 

In the recent UK Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Limited v The Scottish Ministers [2025] UKSC 26, the UK Supreme Court determined that the terms “man,” “woman,” and “sex” in the Equality Act refer strictly to biological sex. As a result, individuals with a UK Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) do not acquire their “certified sex” (i.e., the sex affirmed by a GRC) for the purposes of UK discrimination law.

The recent UK Supreme Court ruling in For Women Scotland Ltd v The Scottish Ministers has had significant implications for equality law, but its effect in Northern Ireland remains uncertain. Last week, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland published a legal paper examining whether the Supreme Court’s interpretation of "sex" as "biological sex" in the Equality Act 2010 should extend to Northern Ireland, given its distinct and specific legal context and the influence of Article 2 of the Windsor Framework. The Commission now sets out a six-step plan to seek legal clarity and offers interim guidance for employers, service providers, and public authorities.

This Inbrief provides a whistle-stop tour of the most important Irish employment law issues, from the beginning of the employment relationship through to its conclusion.

The Irish Government recently passed the Employment Equality Act 1998 (Section 20A) (Gender Pay Gap Information) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (“Regulations”) confirming some noteworthy changes to gender pay gap reporting requirements for Irish employers.

The Department for the Economy published its official response to the ‘Good Jobs’ consultation on 25 April 2025 following a 13-week public consultation exercise between July and September 2024. Whilst it’s clear that the Department is proposing to make significant changes to the law on zero-hours contracts in Northern Ireland, it does not plan to ban zero-hours contracts altogether.  

The European Parliament has published a draft directive that would significantly amend the 2009 European Works Council Directive. As the text has been agreed during interinstitutional negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, it is now almost certain to become law. The draft directive’s key provisions include ending so-called “Article 13” status and “Article 3” status, under which hundreds of multinational businesses have been exempt from national laws on European Works Councils for the last 30 years. In this first of two articles on the draft directive, we examine the implications of this reform for these businesses. Our second article will examine the new legal regime that will be applicable to all businesses.

The Department for Economy has published its response to the ‘Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation which includes proposed reforms promising new ways of working and extended leave that could change day-to-day life for many employees, while giving employers a fresh set of rules which will largely bring NI in line with Great Britain.  

Gender pay gap reporting is no longer a novel concept, as many large employers in Ireland have been subject to these obligations since 2022.  However, this year the threshold for reporting has dropped to organisations with 50 or more employees, making it relevant to significantly more employers than before. With a new online pay gap reporting portal expected to be launched by the Irish government in Autumn this year, reports will also soon be fully searchable and more easily compared with other organisations by members of the public, thereby drawing further attention to the issue for employers. 

The Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 was recently published and, if enacted, could significantly impact how employers handle retirement in Ireland.  Here’s what you need to know to prepare.

The Department for the Economy has published its response to the ‘Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation, including a series of proposals aimed at ‘rebalancing’ the relationship between employers and employees through strengthened trade union rights and greater workplace dialogue. We consider whether these reforms achieve a balance between giving workers a stronger voice while supporting business stability and economic growth.

Significant changes in NI employment law are proposed in the ’Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation response released by the Department for the Economy. Our dashboard breaks down the proposals by theme, explaining what each proposed change involves and its potential impact for employers.

The highly anticipated outcome of the recent ‘Good Jobs’ Employment Rights Bill consultation has just been released by the Department for the Economy. We highlight the key changes that may be in store for NI employers and consider next steps.

Navigating cross border employment between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland? The island's distinct legal frameworks offer both opportunities and challenges. We provide expert support to manage the complexities, ensuring compliance with legal, tax, social security, and employment regulations, helping businesses create compliant and flexible cross border work environments.

The much-awaited updated Code of Practice on Determining Employment Status (the “Code”) which is available here, was published in October 2024 after a review by an interdepartmental group comprising of the Department of Social Protection, the Revenue Commissioners and the Workplace Relations Commission (the “WRC”). This review was carried out in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in The Revenue Commissioners v Karshan (Midlands) Ltd t/a Domino’s Pizza where it was found that Domino’s Pizza delivery drivers were, in fact, employees and not independent contractors. In this article, we look at what the Code says and how it can help employers to assess the often tricky question of determining employment status.

It’s that time of the year when employment law changes traditionally take effect, and this year there have been significant increases in several rates and limits. Here is our summary of the most important changes taking effect this month in NI.

The Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (DETE) is set to revolutionise the employment permit application process with the launch of its new cloud-based Employment Permit Online system, aptly named "Employment Permits Online". The DETE promises the new system will streamline the submission, processing, and issuance of employment permits, offering enhanced functionality and security features that will benefit employers, employees, and agents alike. 

In a significant recent decision, the High Court set aside an award of compensation made previously to a Debenhams employee by the Labour Court. The ruling also clarifies the statutory requirements for consultation under the Protection of Employment Act, 1977 in the context of collective redundancies during insolvency. 

As the Labour government in England, Wales and Scotland commits to introducing pregnancy loss leave (for those who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks of pregnancy), we take a look at the current rights of those who experience a pregnancy loss in Ireland, as well as potential future developments and what employers can do to support employees.