Irish employment law
Employment is a central focus of our business, with around 100 lawyers in our team. Our UK practice is ‘the most highly nominated European firm’ in research conducted by Who’s Who Legal, with 14 lawyers listed in their Labour, Employment & Benefits 2017 ranking. The lawyers in our Irish practice are ranked in Chambers Europe as leaders in their field. Consistently top-ranked amongst our peers for over a decade, we advise Irish, UK and multinational clients of all sizes, and many of our partners are independently rated as leaders in the field.
Underpinning the success of any business is its people. Meeting the competitive challenges of today’s rapidly changing world can require a radical re-think of the employer/employee relationship, and co-ordinating globally mobile talent can present significant challenges. Nurturing diversity, incentivising key staff and protecting against team defections are all essential to business success.
With so many issues to contend with, our award-winning specialist employment team covers the full range of work – from day-to-day HR support through to advising on the most complex or contentious of disputes. Going far beyond just legal advice, we also support clients with a range of innovative, value-adding services including consultancy, training and flexible legal resourcing to provide senior lawyers in-house to organisations.
You can view some recent blog posts of ours below, and can view more at employment.lewissilkin.ie.
Awards & Recognition
- A pleased client describes our Irish team as ‘very knowledgeable and pragmatic’ (Chambers 2018)
- The head of the Irish team, Siobhra Rush, has been described as ‘responsive, proactive and pragmatic’ as well as ‘solution oriented’
Related items
Jumping on the bandwagon – New Irish law introduced to provide security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours
23 January 2019The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 (“the Act”) is not due to come into force until the first week of March. This gives employers some time to consider the changes the Act will implement, time to update working practices, policies and contracts, and time to “jump on the bandwagon” (pun intended – see below).
Gender pay gap reporting in Ireland
05 December 2018Gender pay gap reporting laws are coming soon to Ireland.
Ireland: Recent case law on an employer’s duty of care in PTSD/psychological injury cases
27 November 2018Cases from the courts continue to emphasise the duty of care on employers to take reasonable steps to protect their employees from the reasonably foreseeable harm which may arise as a result of treatment by other employees, even where such behaviour might not amount to bullying in the workplace.
The gig economy and employment law in Ireland
19 November 2018The origins of the “gig economy” can be traced back to the worldwide recession in 2008/2009, when people began to take on shorter term freelance “gig” type roles (involving personal service) which went outside the normal parameters of the employer/employee relationship. Very quickly, internet applications to host those services and put users in touch with the service providers came into being. These applications are now called platforms. While technology has kept up with the increase of these platforms, employment law has not, particularly in Ireland.
Data protection a “key imperative” for businesses ahead of Brexit “cliff edge” say Lewis Silkin lawyers at Dublin office opening
03 October 2018Lewis Silkin has officially opened its new Dublin office with an event at the Marker Hotel, with guest speakers including the Irish Deputy Data Protection Commissioner and Facebook’s International Employment Counsel.
Irish employment law - a practical overview
21 June 2018THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED - In this session, the Dublin and London based members of our Irish team will discuss the most important areas of employment law in Ireland and explain how they differ from the position in the UK.
The Law Society Gazette covers the recent opening of the Lewis Silkin office in Ireland
11 May 2018In the Law Society Gazette, Ian Jeffery and James Davies discuss the opening of the new office in Dublin and highlight that the Ireland office is to ensure the firm can still meet client demand after Brexit.
Retirement and age discrimination – recent developments in Ireland
30 April 2018According to latest statistics, claims of age discrimination made up 14% of cases raised by members of the public to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (“IHREC”) under Irish employment legislation. Compulsory and contractual retirement ages in particular have become an increasing area of litigation in Ireland in recent times.