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Business concerns halt sick-leave increase

The Government has decided to keep the number of paid statutory sick-leave days at five.

Statutory sick leave was introduced for the first time in 2023 when the entitlement was set at three days per calendar year, moving to five days from 1 January 2024.

The figure had been due to rise to seven days this year.

Peter Burke (Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment) said that business owners and representative organisations, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors, had “consistently raised concerns” about the impact of the measure.

The department referred to research it had carried out with the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service, saying that it had found that firms in the retail, accommodation and food services sectors were likely to be more affected by an increase to seven days.

Illness benefit

“Five days’ sick leave strikes the right balance. It gives workers income protection for five days, after which illness benefit is there to support them,” the minister stated.

The measure was mainly intended to provide sick-pay coverage to employees in low-paid and precarious roles, who do not have access to a company sick-leave scheme.

Workers are entitled to up to five days of sick leave in a calendar year, paid at 70% of gross earnings, up to a daily cap of €110.

The illness-benefit scheme operated by the Department of Social Protection kicks in once employees have exhausted their entitlement to employer-paid sick leave.