Remote-work accident liability red flag for bosses

Employers have raised concerns about the extent of their liability should an accident occur in a remote-work location – whether a home office or co-working hub.

The issue is flagged in a series of submissions to the Government on the National Remote Work Strategy.

Legislative change may be needed under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 to ensure that both employers and employees have a clear understanding as to their responsibilities, rights and duties, the submissions point out.

This extends to providing employers with a legislative basis to conduct remote-workplace risk assessments, which will add costs for small businesses.

And 44% of respondents say they would not be confident in carrying out a risk assessment of an employee's remote workplace.

Comprehensive guidelines in relation to health and safety would be required in order to raise confidence, the report suggests.

Issues 

If risk assessments extend beyond an employee’s workstation, this could lead to a myriad of potential health-and-safety and/or insurance issues, one respondent says.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has published the range of views on the right to request remote work, citing the opportunity to make blended working a much bigger part of normal working life.

Earlier this year, Ireland’s first National Remote Work Strategy set out steps to make this happen after the pandemic. 

Submissions were received from stakeholders – including trade unions, employer representative bodies, individual employers and employees, and political parties.

Currently, all employees can ask their employers for the right to work remotely, but there is no legal framework around which a request can be made, and how it should be dealt with by the employer.

A total of 64% of respondents believe that an employer should respond to a remote-work request within one month.

However, employer submissions suggest that two months is a more realistic timeframe.

And 31% of respondents feel that a remote-work request can be made after one year on the job, with 25% suggesting there should be no waiting period.

One employer comments that a one-year wait is necessary, to ensure that the employee has adequate opportunity to integrate properly and create the necessary collegial relationships, as well as obtain a strong understanding of an organisation’s culture.

Clarity on the geography of the role is needed at the recruitment process, in order to avoid later difficulties, one employer says.

Timeframes

“Longer timeframes may leave the employee in unwanted situations. This may lead to unwanted resignations or lay-offs,” one submission notes.

The strategy recognises that not all occupations, or particular roles within an enterprise, will be suitable for remote working.

Planned legislation will set out clearly how these requests should be facilitated as far as possible.

“Introducing a right to request remote working will set out a clear framework to facilitate remote and blended work options, in so far as possible,” the Tánaiste said.

“It will ensure that when an employer declines a request, there are stated reasons for doing so, and conversations with workers are taking place in a structured way,” he said.

However, Leo Varadkar also said that remote working would not work for everyone, or for every organisation, and the Government would take a balanced approach with the new legislation.

A total of 175 submissions were received, most of which came from individual workers. A full 84% are in favour of having a remote-work policy provided for in the legislation.

Subjective

However, one employer says: “There should not be any provision inserted in the legislation that employers must have a policy on remote work which can be inspected by employees and the Workplace Relations Commission. Such a document is too subjective and has too much of a strategic impact on a business to allow for this to be covered by an inspection.”

While 86% of respondents say that an offer of hybrid working would be acceptable, 85% are in favour of the employer bearing the cost of remote-work arrangements.

However, some employers may not be in a position to provide two sets of equipment.

A tax-efficient scheme for purchasing remote-working equipment, along with the employer provision of technology, would assist the success of future remote-working arrangements, one respondent says.

And 84% believe the employer should have the right to monitor the activity of the employee, but only to the same extent applicable in the office environment.

Monitoring of tasks

Monitoring should be via completion of work, tasks or deadlines, rather than cameras or tracking software.

The Tánaiste said today (20 August) that workers should have a choice, so long as the work was done and business and service needs were met.

“That’s the principle I want to apply,” he added.

“The intention is to introduce a mechanism for employees to request remote working that is fair to workers, but does not place an undue burden on employers.

Priority

“This new legislation will be a priority in the new Dáil term. We will also continue to provide up-to-date advice, guidance and information on all aspects of remote working for workers and employers.”

The Government has committed to:

• Legislate to provide employees with the right to request remote working,
• Introduce a legally admissible code of practice on the right to disconnect from work – covering phone calls, emails and switch-off time. This was published in April 2021,
• Invest in remote-work hubs, ensuring they are in locations that suit commuters and are close to childcare facilities,
• Acceleration of the National Broadband Plan,
• Review the treatment of remote working for the purposes of tax and expenditure in the next Budget,
• Mandating that home and remote working should be the norm for 20% of public sector employees.