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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.