Remote working - the future?

“Regardless, its a moot point as it does not apply to remote working in the Irish context”

Hmmmm. 😏

Are you stating that an employer cannot reduce the wages of an employee who works remotely? The discussion prior to that between myself and denartha was about the choice between choosing to work in the office or at home, and would he/she accept a lower wage if he/she chose home, you said it was moot as the employer cannot cut pay if denartha chose home.

What are you saying now, that you didn’t read the thread before you commented and only meant if the employer forced denartha to work from home?

Or, are you sticking to your guns that an employer cannot cut pay if you chose to wfh? That is a fundamental change to the contract of employment which required denartha (presumably as that is what we were discussing) to attend the office for work prior to the pandemic. If you are, there are plenty of recent articles published online that state otherwise, and you have only linked an article relating to forced wfh during the pandemic.

Please clarify, otherwise we are going around in circles.

Seriously?

The work location is changed, the employer and employee have a whole new set of obligations relating to attendance, workspace, H&S, insurance, oversight, communications, GDPR, equipment etc, etc, of course there will be changes to contracts, all because the employee is choosing not to attend an office.

Up to now wfh has been a temporary arrangement imposed in line with pandemic guidance by the Government, contracts did not require change, but what denartha and I were discussing was permanent wfh when offices are open and employees can return.

Again, are you stating that it would be illegal for an employer to cut wages because an employee, in this case denartha is choosing to work from home? Yes or no.

You’ve worn me down DaCor, I’ve nothing more to add that hasn’t already been said.

Asking the following because I don't know the answers and I haven't found anything online to provide answers. If you or others do know the answers (some of you appear very knowledgeable on the topic) please feel free to take a crack at the following questions:

1. Why is a new contract required for WFH? What requirement is there that drives this? You and others have said "because the location is changing" but why does the location changing drive a new contract requirement? Is there a part of employment law this falls under?
2. Would the same requirement apply, for all new contracts of employment, with all onsite staff if a company moved 3 doors down the street? What about across the street? Or over to the next townland? Or the next county?
3. What part of requiring a new contract allows an employer to impose a salary reduction? Using the example above of moving a short distance, if they moved offices could they not just impose salary reductions across the board for everyone employed there?
4. In my personal experience, contracts of employment give a rough address, rather than a very specific one so if I my contract stated the place of business as Galway City, and I lived in Galway City, would a new contract still be required? If yes, why?
5. As contract law requires both employee and employer to consent to changes in the terms of the contract, if an employer tries to impose a paycut for WFH, what happens if an employee does not consent? Refusing to allow the employee to WFH at that point due to non-agreement will not fly as a reason to refuse WFH as it would be discriminatory would it not?
6. As per the Employment Equality Act, there is an "Entitlement to equal remuneration", specifically It shall be a term of the contract under which C is employed that, subject to this Act, C shall at any time be entitled to the same rate of remuneration for the work which C is employed to do as D who, at that or any other relevant time, is employed to do like work by the same or an associated employer. So, if John & Mary are doing the same job, and the only difference is Mary is WFH, how can an employer adhere to the Employment Equality Act and impose a salary reduction for WFH when the only difference is location?

Next budget has updated options for WFH

RTE news : Remote work sees villages benefit from move back home