PART I

Preliminary and General

1. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Maternity Protection Act, 1994.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as may be fixed by order made by the Minister, and different days may be so fixed for different provisions and for different purposes.

2. —(1) In this Act—

“the 1977 Act” means the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977 ;

“the 1981 Act” means the Maternity Protection of Employees Act, 1981 ;

“the 1989 Act” means the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 ;

“the 1992 Directive” means Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding;

“additional maternity leave” has the meaning assigned by section 14 ;

“associated employer” has the meaning assigned by section 27 (3);

“the Authority” means the National Authority for Occupational Safety and Health;

“confinement” and “the date of confinement” have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 41 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993 ;

“contract of employment” means, subject to subsection (2)—

(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, or

(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with a person who is carrying on the business of an employment agency, within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act, 1971 , and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for another person (whether or not that other person is a party to the contract),

whether the contract is express or implied and if express, whether it is oral or in writing;

“employee”, subject to subsection (2), means a person who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;

“employee who has recently given birth” means at any time an employee whose date of confinement was not more than 14 weeks earlier and who has informed her employer of her condition;

“employee who is breastfeeding” means at any time an employee whose date of confinement was not more than twenty-six weeks earlier, who is breastfeeding and who has informed her employer of her condition;

“employer”, subject to subsection (2), means, in relation to an employee, the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment;

“job” has the meaning assigned by section 26 (3);

“maternity leave” has the meaning assigned by section 8 ;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Equality and Law Reform;

“pregnant employee” means an employee who is pregnant and who has informed her employer of her condition;

“successor” has the meaning assigned by section 26 (1);

“the Tribunal” means the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

(2) For the purposes of this Act—

(a) a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a member of the Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces) or otherwise as a civil servant, within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act, 1956 , shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or Government, as the case may be, under a contract of service;

(b) an officer or servant of a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 , a harbour authority, a health board or a vocational education committee shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority, board or committee, as the case may be, under a contract of service; and

(c) in relation to an employee whose contract of employment falls (or, where the employment has ceased, fell) within paragraph (b) of the definition of “contract of employment” in subsection (1), the person who is liable to pay the employee's wages shall be deemed to be the employer.

(3) Subject to subsections (1) and (2), expressions used in this Act have the same meaning as in the 1992 Directive.

(4) In this Act a reference to a Part or section is to a Part or section of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.

(5) In this Act a reference to a subsection or paragraph is to the subsection or paragraph of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

(6) In this Act a reference to an enactment includes a reference to that enactment as amended by any other enactment, including this Act.

3. —(1) The Minister may, in relation to any provision of this Act relating to notification (or confirmation of notification), by order vary any such provision.

(2) An order under this Act may contain such consequential, supplementary and ancillary provisions, including any provisions modifying any provision of this Act, as the Minister considers necessary or expedient.

(3) Any power under this Act to make an order includes power to amend or revoke an order made in the exercise of that power.

(4) Where an order is proposed to be made under this Act, other than an order under section 1 , a draft of the order shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas, and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving the draft has been passed by each such House.

(5) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as practicable after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which the House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the regulation.

4. —(1) A provision in any agreement shall be void in so far as it purports to exclude or limit the application of any provision of this Act or is inconsistent with any provision of this Act.

(2) A provision in any agreement which is or becomes less favourable in relation to an employee than a similar or corresponding entitlement conferred on the employee by this Act shall be deemed to be so modified as to be not less favourable.

(3) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as prohibiting any agreement from containing any provision more favourable to an employee than any provision in Parts II to VI .

(4) References in this section to an agreement are to any agreement, whether a contract of employment or not, and whether made before or after the commencement of this Act.

5. —Any expenses incurred by the Minister or the Minister for Enterprise and Employment in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

6. —(1) The Maternity Protection of Employees Acts, 1981 and 1991 (which are replaced by the provisions of this Act) are hereby repealed.

(2) The repeal by this Act of the Maternity Protection of Employees Acts, 1981 and 1991 does not affect the construction of any reference in any other Act which defines “employee” or “employer” or any other expression by reference to those Acts (or the 1981 Act alone).

(3) In section 37 (4) (a) of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993 for “the Maternity Protection of Employees Act, 1981 ” there shall be substituted “the Maternity Protection Act, 1994”.

(4) In so far as any order or regulation made, notification given or other thing done under an enactment repealed by this Act could have been made, given or done under a corresponding provision of this Act, it shall have effect as if so made, given or done.

(5) Where a period of time specified in any enactment repealed by this Act is current at the commencement of this Act, this Act shall have effect as if the corresponding provision thereof had been in force when that period began to run.