Carers' Leave Act 2001

Purpose of Leave
The leave is for the purpose of personally providing full-time care to a person (relevant person) who is objectively assessed by the Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs (Deciding Officers) as being in need of full-time care and attention.

Leave Period
The leave period is a maximum of 65 weeks in respect of any one relevant person. The 65 weeks' leave may be taken as a continuous period, or in separate unit periods which do not total more than 65 weeks.

An employer may refuse to allow an employee to take carers' leave for a period of less than 13 weeks. Such refusal must be based on reasonable grounds and the employer must specify the reasons in writing to the employee.

The Minister may make regulations, applicable to a particular class or classes of employee, covering the manner in which carer's leave may be taken, where it is proposed to take the leave in a form other than a continuous period of 65 weeks.

Agreements between employer and employee, that are more favourable to the employee than the entitlements under the Act, are permitted under the Act.

Subject to certain exceptions, the leave terminates when the employee ceases to personally provide the full-time care and attention to the relevant person.

Conditions
The employee must have been in the continuous employment of the employer from whom the leave is taken, for at least 12 months, before he or she can commence the leave. (There is no 'hours' threshold in the Act.)

An employee must give at least 6 weeks' prior notice in writing to the employer of the intention to take the leave and must provide his or her employer with a decision from a Social, Community and Family Affairs Deciding Officer.

At any one time only one employee may be on carers' leave in respect of the same person.

Subject to certain exceptions, an employee may not be on carers' leave in respect of two or more relevant persons at any one time. The exception relates to a case where the two relevant persons reside together. This exception may only be exercised once.

There must be a gap of 6 weeks between periods of carers' leave taken by an employee in respect of a particular relevant person.

An employee who has taken carers' leave in respect of a relevant person, cannot commence a period of carer's leave in respect of another relevant person until a period of 6 months has elapsed from the date on which leave in respect of the first relevant person terminated.

By agreement between the employee and employer the leave may be postponed, curtailed or varied, in which case it may be taken at another time.

Entitlement to Carers' Benefit is not a condition for entitlement to Carers' Leave.

Employment Rights
An employee on carers' leave is treated as if he/she had not been absent so that all employment rights are unaffected during the leave with the exception of the right to remuneration, certain annual leave, certain public holidays, superannuation benefits, and any obligation to pay contributions in or in respect of the employment.

Annual leave and Public Holidays entitlements accrue only in respect of the first 13 weeks of carers' leave for each and any relevant person.

Periods of carers' leave are not reckonable as any other type of leave, e.g., sick leave, annual leave, adoptive leave, maternity leave, parental leave or force majeure leave.

When the carers' leave terminates an employee is entitled to return to the same work, or if it is not reasonably practicable for the employer to permit the employee to return to the same work as he or she did prior to the leave, suitable alternative work on terms and conditions not less favourable than those applicable to his or her previous employment must be provided by the employer.

Continuity of service is preserved.

Employees are protected from penalisation by employers for exercising or proposing to exercise their entitlement to carers' leave.

Return to Work
When the period of carers' leave ends the employee is entitled to return to work:

  • with the employer with whom he or she was working immediately before the start of the period or, where during the employee's absence from work, there was a change of ownership of the undertaking;
  • in the job that the employee held immediately before the commencement of the period; and
  • under the contract of employment under which the employee was employed immediately before the commencement of the period or, where a change of ownership has occurred, under an identical contract of employment with the new owner, and in either case under terms or conditions no less favourable to the employee than those that would have been applicable if he or she had not taken carers' leave.

Where the job held by the employee immediately before the commencement of a period of carers' leave was not the employee's normal or usual job, he or she shall be entitled to return to work, either to his or her normal or usual job or to that job, as soon as is practicable, without contravention by the employee or the employer of any legal provisions.

Where it is not reasonably practicable for the employer to permit the employee to return to work in accordance with the above, the employee shall be entitled to be offered suitable alternative employment under a new contract of employment. This should be suitable and appropriate for the employee concerned and the terms and conditions of employment should not be substantially less favourable to him or her than those of the contract of employment immediately before the start of the carers' leave.

Disputes
Issues arising in relation to the following are decided by a Social, Community and Family Affairs Deciding Officer:

  • whether the person in respect of whose care the leave is taken, is a "relevant" person for the purposes of the Bill; and
  • whether an employee is providing the full time care and attention as required by the Bill.

There is a right to appeal a decision of a deciding officer under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993.

Any dispute between an employee and the employer relating to any other entitlement of the employee under this Act is referable to a Rights Commissioner with a right of appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Qualifications for Carers' Benefit
To qualify for benefit, a carer must:
– be aged 16 or over and under age 65/66;
– live with the person being cared for or in close proximity;
– have been employed for the previous three-month period;
– satisfy the PRSI contribution conditions, i.e.,156 contributions paid since entry into insurable employment, and
a) 39 contributions paid in the relevant Tax Year, or
b) 39 contributions paid in the 12 month period before commencement of the Carer's Benefit,or
c) 26 contributions paid in the relevant Tax Year and 26 contributions paid in the Relevant Tax Year prior to that; and
– give up employment to care for a person(s) on a full-time basis (this employment must have been for a minimum of 17 hours per week or 34 hours per fortnight).

The person receiving care must:
be disabled so as to need full-time care and attention (medical certificate and assessment by a Deciding Officer from the Department of Social, Community & Family Affairs are required) and not be normally living in a hospital, home or other similar institution.

Where a Domiciliary Care Allowance is being paid by a Health Board in respect of a child no medical certification is required.

Please note that this is not a legal interpretation of the Act. Neither does it cover all of the provisions of the Act. The Act should be consulted for the precise legal provisions.