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19 2001

CARER'S LEAVE ACT, 2001

PART 2

Carer's Leave

Entitlement to carer's leave.

6. —(1) Subject to this Act, an employee who has been employed for a period of 12 months continuous employment by the employer from whose employment the carer's leave is proposed to be taken shall be entitled to leave from the employment concerned (to be known and referred to in this Act as “carer's leave”) for the purpose of providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person for a period not exceeding 65 weeks for each relevant person if—

(a) the person in respect of whom the employee proposes to provide full-time care and attention is a relevant person,

(b) the employee provides the employer concerned with a decision referred to in subsection (5), or, where appropriate, subsection (6),

(c) during the period of carer's leave the employee provides full-time care and attention to the relevant person, and

(d) during the period of carer's leave the employee does not engage in employment or self-employment other than employment or self-employment prescribed under section 82B(3) (inserted by the Act of 2000) of Chapter 11A of Part II of the Act of 1993.

(2) An employee shall give the employer a copy of the decision referred to in subsection (1)(b) as soon as he or she receives it and the employee shall not be entitled to carer's leave until the employer has been given the copy.

(3) An employee shall not be entitled to carer's leave for the purpose of providing full-time care and attention to a relevant person during the same period in which another employee is absent from employment on carer's leave for the purpose of providing full-time care and attention to the same relevant person.

(4) An employee shall, subject to section 7 (2), be entitled to a period of carer's leave for one relevant person at any one time.

(5) An employee who proposes to avail of carer's leave shall apply to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs for a decision by a deciding officer under the Act of 1993 that the person in respect of whom the employee proposes to avail of carer's leave in order to provide full-time care and attention is a relevant person for the purposes of Chapter 11A (inserted by the Act of 2000) of Part II of the Act of 1993.

(6) A decision of a deciding officer under subsection (5) may be appealed under section 257 of the Act of 1993.

(7) For the avoidance of doubt it is declared that entitlement to carer's benefit under Chapter 11A (inserted by the Act of 2000) of Part II of the Act of 1993 is not a condition for entitlement to carer's leave.

Supplemental provisions to section 6 .

7. —(1) An employee shall, as soon as is practicable, notify his or her employer of any change in circumstances which affect the entitlement to carer's leave.

(2) Notwithstanding sections 6(4), 8(4) and 9(1) and subject to subsections (4) and (5), an employee may, while on carer's leave in respect of a relevant person, apply for carer's leave for another person if that person resides with the relevant person.

(3) An employee who wishes to apply for carer's leave for another person in the circumstances referred to in subsection (2) shall apply for carer's leave under section 6 .

(4) Where an application referred to in subsection (3) is made and an employee who is on carer's leave in respect of a relevant person takes carer's leave in respect of a second relevant person—

(a) the period of carer's leave for the first-mentioned relevant person shall not exceed 65 weeks from its commencement, and

(b) the period of carer's leave for the second-mentioned relevant person shall commence on the date of the decision under section 6 (5) or section 6 (6) and shall not exceed 65 weeks from its commencement,

and the total amount of weeks for such carer's leave shall not exceed 130 weeks.

(5) An employee who is on carer's leave in respect of a relevant person and who takes carer's leave in respect of a second relevant person shall not make another application for carer's leave in the circumstances referred to in subsection (2).

(6) The First Schedule to the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973 , shall apply for the purpose of ascertaining the period of service of an employee and whether that service has been continuous.

(7) Regulations made under section 82B(3) (inserted by the Act of 2000) of Chapter 11A of Part II of the Act of 1993 shall apply to this Act with any necessary modifications.

Manner in which carer's leave may be taken.

8. —(1) The period of carer's leave from employment to which an employee is entitled shall not exceed 65 weeks for each relevant person and may, subject to subsections (2) and (3) and any regulations made under subsection (6), be taken in the form of—

(a) one continuous period of 65 weeks for each relevant person, or

(b) a number of periods, the aggregate duration of which does not exceed a total of 65 weeks from the date of the commencement of the carer's leave.

(2) An employer may refuse, on reasonable grounds, to permit an employee to take a period of carer's leave which is less than 13 weeks duration and where the employer so refuses he or she shall specify in writing to the employee the grounds for such refusal.

(3) An employee who has taken a period of carer's leave in accordance with subsection (1)(b) in respect of a relevant person, shall not be entitled to commence a further period of carer's leave in respect of the same relevant person, until a period of 6 weeks has elapsed since the termination of the previous period of carer's leave.

(4) Where an employee has taken carer's leave in respect of a relevant person and that period of carer's leave has terminated the employee shall not commence carer's leave in respect of another relevant person until a period of 6 months has elapsed since the termination of the previous period of carer's leave.

(5) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting an agreement between an employer and employee in respect of carer's leave on terms which are more favourable to the employee than the entitlements of the employee under this Act.

(6) The Minister may make regulations in respect of the form in which carer's leave may be taken by any specified class or classes of employees in circumstances where carer's leave is to be taken in the form referred to in subsection (1)(b).

Notice of carer's leave.

9. —(1) When an employee proposes to take carer's leave, the employee shall, not later than 6 weeks before the proposed commencement of the carer's leave, provide the employer with a notice in writing stating—

(a) the proposal to take the carer's leave,

(b) that an application referred to in section 6 (5) or, where appropriate, section 6 (6), has been made, and

(c) the proposed date of commencement of the carer's leave and the form in which it is proposed to be taken.

(2) Where, in exceptional or emergency circumstances, it is not reasonably practicable to give notice in accordance with the period specified in subsection (1) the employee shall give that notice as soon as is reasonably practicable.

(3) An employee may revoke a notice of the proposal to take carer's leave given to the employer in accordance with subsection (1) or, where appropriate, subsection (2), by notice in writing given to the employer before the date of the confirmation document and where the notice of the proposal to take carer's leave is so revoked the employee shall not be entitled to take carer's leave at the time specified in the notice given in accordance with subsection (1) or, where appropriate, subsection (2).

(4) Notwithstanding subsection (1) where leave, purporting to be carer's leave, is taken by an employee who is entitled to carer's leave but who has not complied with subsection (1) or (2), the employer may, at his or her discretion and subject to subsection (8), treat that leave as carer's leave and this Act shall apply to that leave accordingly.

(5) An employer shall retain the documents given to him or her in accordance with subsection (1).

(6) An employee who is on carer's leave shall, not less than 4 weeks before the date on which that employee is due to return to his or her employment, give notice in writing to the employer of the intention to return to work.

(7) Subsection (6) shall not apply if the period of carer's leave is terminated in accordance with section 11 (2).

(8) An employer may, when exercising his or her discretion under subsection (4), refuse to treat leave as carer's leave on reasonable grounds and where the employer so refuses he or she shall specify in writing the grounds for such refusal.

Confirmation of carer's leave.

10. —(1) Where an employee has given his or her employer the decision referred to in section 6 (1)(b), the employee and the employer shall, on a date that is not less than 2 weeks before the proposed commencement of the carer's leave concerned, prepare and sign a document (referred to in this Act as a “confirmation document”) specifying the date of the commencement of the carer's leave, its duration and the form in which it will be taken.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply to the taking of carer's leave in accordance with section 9 (4) and the employee and the employer shall prepare and sign the confirmation document as soon as may be.

(3) An employer shall retain a confirmation document signed by him or her and shall give a copy of it to the employee concerned who shall retain it.

(4) A confirmation document, including any amendments to it made under section 12 (1), shall be a notice for the purposes of section 31 .

Termination of carer's leave.

11. —(1) The period of carer's leave shall terminate—

(a) on the date of termination of the period of carer's leave specified in the confirmation document,

(b) on a date agreed between the employee and employer concerned,

(c) where the person in respect of whom the employee has taken carer's leave ceases to satisfy the conditions for a relevant person for the purposes of the Act,

(d) where the employee ceases to satisfy the conditions for the provision of full-time care and attention for the purposes of the Act,

(e) where a decision under subsection (2) is made, on the date specified in subsection (3), and

(f) where the relevant person dies during a period of carer's leave on the date earliest of the following dates—

(i) the date that is 6 weeks after the date of death, or

(ii) the date of termination of the period specified in the confirmation document.

(2) Where a deciding officer or an appeals officer makes a decision under section 18 (4) or section 18 (5) that—

(a) the person in respect of whom an employee proposed to take or has taken carer's leave did not or does not satisfy or no longer satisfies the requirements for a relevant person,

(b) the employee does not satisfy the conditions for providing full-time care and attention, or

(c) the employee is engaging or has engaged in employment or self-employment other than as prescribed under section 82B(3) (inserted by the Act of 2000) of Chapter 11A of Part II of the Act of 1993,

the period of carer's leave shall terminate and the deciding officer or the appeals officer shall, as soon as practicable, notify the employer and the employee of that decision.

(3) The employer, following a notification referred to in subsection (2), shall, as soon as practicable, give the employee a notice in writing specifying the date on which the employee is to return to his or her employment and that date shall be a date that is reasonable and practicable having regard to all the circumstances.

(4) Where carer's leave is terminated under subsection (2), the employee concerned shall return to his or her employment on the day specified in the notice under subsection (3) and any period between the date of the return to the employment and the date of the end of the period of the carer's leave that is specified in the confirmation document concerned, shall be deemed not to be carer's leave.

(5) An employer shall, when the employee returns to his or her employment, give a notice in writing to the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs that the period of carer's leave has terminated, the employee has returned to work and the date of the return to employment.

(6) A person shall retain a notice under this section given to him or her and a copy of a notice under this section given by him or her.

(7) Notwithstanding section 24 , the giving of a notice to an employee under this section shall be effected by delivering it to the employee or by sending a copy of it by prepaid registered letter in an envelope addressed to the employee at the last known residence of the employee or, where appropriate, the residence of the relevant person.

Postponement, curtailment and variation of carer's leave by parties concerned.

12. —(1) If, after the date of the confirmation document (whether or not the period of carer's leave to which it relates has commenced) the employer and the employee so agree—

(a) the carer's leave or part of it may be postponed to such time as may be so agreed between the parties,

(b) the period of carer's leave may be curtailed in a manner and to an extent as may be so agreed between the parties, or

(c) the form of the carer's leave may be varied in a manner as may be so agreed between the parties,

and the confirmation document shall be amended in accordance with such agreement.

(2) Where carer's leave is postponed, curtailed or varied the period of carer's leave that is not taken by reason of such postponement, curtailment or variation may, subject to section 6 , be taken at another time.