This Week’s Top 5 Reads Worth Your Coffee Break ☕

1. 💼 Juggling two jobs? Polygamous working is booming as remote workers quietly double up on employers.
2. 📉 Mind the gap! Ireland’s worst hourly gender pay offenders of 2024 have been named.
3. 🤔 “Isn’t DEI just politics?” Here’s how to handle those tricky workplace convos with grace.
4. 📊 Not ready! Half of small firms are behind on auto pension enrolment, warns Irish Life.
5. 🗣️ HR Interview Series: Mairéad Golding of Flogas answers Legal Island's questions this month.

And in other news.....Ever wondered how to make GDPR exciting? Us neither — but our Data Protection Event on 28th May is the next best thing. Come for the compliance, stay for the cookies (the digital kind, of course). 🍪🔐BOOK your place today!

**If you have any difficulties accessing the article or resetting your password (if you haven’t already done so in 2025) please email hub@legal-island.com and we’ll be in touch with you as soon as possible.**

1. Case Law Reviews
2. AI and Employment Law
3. Remote Working
4. Gender Pay Gap
5. Pensions
6. Staff shortages
7. Just in Case You Missed It...
8. HR Developments
9. Employment News in the Media
10. Health and Safety Developments
11. Free Webinars This Month

Omar Mohammed Osman v Cantarini Limited ADJ-00054155

Summary: WRC held employee’s dismissal was procedurally flawed, despite the employer having substantial grounds for dismissal.

Practical Guidance for Employers: 

Employers should:

• Ensure disciplinary procedures are not only fair but fully completed. Where an appeal is offered, systems must be in place to receive and act on it, even if key personnel leave the business. Failure to respond undermines the fairness of the process.
  
• Clearly differentiate between protected disclosures and interpersonal grievances. Only disclosures relating to specified wrongdoings under the 2014 Act will trigger legal protection. Training in this area can help HR teams assess complaints correctly.
  
• Investigate all allegations of misconduct, including those involving discrimination or harassment. Employers must give the employee a fair chance to respond and maintain clear records of each step taken to demonstrate procedural compliance.

Read the full Review here:
Omar Mohammed Osman v Cantarini Limited [2025]

Sarah (Jackson) Butler v Dining Experiences Ltd t/a Karen’s Diner [2025]ADJ-00055557

Summary: Employers must fairly distribute employee tips and gratuities in accordance with the Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022.

Practical Guidance for Employers: 

Employers should:

• Be aware that under the Payment of Wages (Amendment) (Tips and Gratuities) Act 2022, any tips or service charges received electronically must be distributed fairly among employees and cannot be retained by the employer except in narrowly defined circumstances. If such payments are collected but not distributed, employers may face claims under the Payment of Wages Act 1991 for unlawful deductions, as highlighted in this case. Employers should ensure robust systems are in place to account for, track, and distribute electronic tips transparently and in line with statutory requirements.
  
• Equally important is the treatment of cash tips, which also fall within the scope of the 1991 Act where employers exercise control over their distribution. If staff pool or declare cash tips for redistribution, employers have a responsibility to ensure fair and timely payment. A failure to distribute such tips, particularly when acknowledged in employment documentation, can be deemed an unlawful deduction from wages. Employers must ensure that final wages issued upon termination include any outstanding tip entitlements.
  
• Be proactive in communicating with employees regarding how tips are managed and distributed. Clear, written policies that align with legislative requirements should be provided and implemented in practice. Transparency can reduce disputes and demonstrate compliance if a claim arises.
  
• Be mindful of statutory complaint timeframes. While the law allows a limited extension where “reasonable cause” for delay is shown, ignorance of timelines is unlikely to be accepted. Ensuring employees have access to grievance procedures internally may prevent external claims and mitigate reputational and financial risk.

Read the full Review here:
Sarah (Jackson) Butler v Dining Experiences Ltd t/a Karen’s Diner [2025]

Back to Top

These case reviews were written by Patrick Barrett BL.

Patrick's legal education is robust, beginning with a BCL Law Degree from University College Cork (2012-2016), followed by an LL.M in Business Law from the same institution (2016-2017), and culminating in a Barrister-at-Law Degree from The Honorable Society of King’s Inns in Dublin (2019-2021). He has extensive experience on the South-West Circuit, handling Civil, Family, and Criminal Law cases, as well as advising the Citizen Advice Service.  He has worked as an employment consultant, dealing with workplace investigations and bankruptcy procedures.

Remember: Our Irish case law reviews are now held in our case law section on our fully-searchable employment law hub website:
https://legal-island.ie/employment-law-hub/case-law

Back to Top

Irish companies are struggling with compliance and using AI

Irish companies are falling behind their global counterparts in adopting artificial intelligence (AI) for compliance purposes according to PwC’s latest Global and Irish Compliance Survey. The study, which surveyed 1,802 executives across 63 territories including 32 respondents in Ireland, reveals the scale of the challenge facing Irish businesses. According to the survey, key strategic initiatives requiring compliance involvement in the next three years are digital transformation (Ireland: 72%; Global: 71%) and new products and services (Ireland: 56%; Global: 49%).  More from Business Plus:
https://businessplus.ie/sme/irish-companies-compliance-ai/

Founder with limited vision raises €2m for accessibility start-up

Irish start-up Nexus Inclusion, which uses artificial intelligence to improve accessibility on the internet, has raised €2m from undisclosed private investors. Founded by Kyran O’Mahoney in 2024, Dublin-based Nexus Inclusion combines generative AI with the accessibility solutions for people with disabilities. O’Mahoney, who was born with 17pc vision, said he founded his start-up “to change the world so no one is excluded because they are different”. Nexus Inclusion will launch just ahead of the European Accessibility Act, which is due to come into effect on 28 June this year. The EU-wide act aims to give people living with disabilities improved access to products and services at more competitive prices, fewer barriers to access transport, education and the labour market, and more jobs where accessibility expertise is needed. Silicon Republic has more here:
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/start-ups/nexus-inclusion-funding-accessibility

The EU AI Regulation: How to Get Ahead of the Curve

Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the landscape of regulatory compliance. With its ability to streamline processes, analyse vast quantities of data and increase efficiency, it is clear to see why AI is becoming embedded into compliance processes. Although clearly here to stay and to be embraced, there are obvious concerns around privacy, accuracy and transparency. read fulla rticle by Jonathan Moore at Fieldfisher:
https://www.fieldfisher.com/en-ie/locations/ireland/ireland-blog/the-eu-ai-regulation-how-to-get-ahead-of-the-curve

Workplaces warned over low readiness for managing AI

Workplaces need to improve their standard of engagement with workers on artificial intelligence, according to CIPD, the professional body for the HR industry. The annual HR Practices in Ireland study from CIPD and the Kemmy Business School at University of Limerick shows that more than half of Irish workplaces have not provided a clear plan on using AI to employees, while two thirds have not provided training on the topic. More:
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/0515/1512913-ai-workplaces-ireland/

The Alarming Gap in AI Training at Work

In this week's episode of AI for HR Weekly, Barry Phillips delves into a pressing issue: the significant lack of AI training in today's workplaces. As AI technologies become increasingly integral to business operations, many organisations are falling behind in equipping their staff with the necessary skills and understanding. Barry discusses the implications of this training gap and offers insights into how businesses can address this challenge to stay competitive and compliant.

The Alarming Gap in AI Training at Work

Back to Top

Polygamous working on the rise as ease of cheating on employers blamed on WFH and remote working

Remote work has opened the door to a growing trend of employees secretly holding multiple full-time jobs, a practice known as polygamous working or being “overemployed.” While having multiple jobs isn't illegal, doing so without disclosure often breaches contracts, strains productivity, and can pose legal and ethical issues. Tech Radar has more on this:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/polygamous-working-on-the-rise-as-ease-of-cheating-on-employers-blamed-on-wfh-and-remote-working

But…

Bringing staff back to office more often will hurt productivity, union conference hears

Moves to bring staff back to government department offices for additional days a week would hit productivity and make staff recruitment more challenging, delegates to the Association of Higher and Civil and Public Servants (AHCPS) have been told. The union’s conference in Portlaoise instructed its leadership to resist any change to current remote and blended working policies across the public service which currently range from one day a week on-site to five depending on a person’s role and place of employment. More on this from the Irish Times:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2025/05/10/bringing-staff-back-to-office-more-often-will-hurt-productivity-union-conference-hears/

Back to Top

Gender pay gap: Ireland’s worst offenders in 2024 on hourly pay

Goodbody Stockbrokers, Cantor Fitzgerald, the Irish Aviation Authority and Uniphar’s Allcare and Hickey’s Pharmacy groups were among the 25 companies which reported the highest median hourly pay gap between men and women employees last year, according to data collected by PayGap.ie. Across the data for nearly 750 companies collected by PayGap.ie, approximately three-quarters of companies had a median hourly wage gap in favour of men with the largest disparity at Uniphar’s Allcare Pharmacies of 60.4 per cent. The Irish Times has more on this story:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/05/08/gender-pay-gap-ireland/

Back to Top

Half of small firms not prepared for auto pension enrolment, says Irish Life

Half of Irish companies with fewer than 50 employees are not prepared at all for the introduction of automatic pension enrolment, even though they are more concerned than larger firms about the impact of the regime, according to a survey by research firm Red C for Irish Life. The finding comes as the Government decided last month to postpone the launch of the auto-enrolment (AE) regime again, this time by three months to the start of January 2026. The Irish Times has more here:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/05/14/half-of-small-firms-not-prepared-for-auto-pension-enrolment-says-irish-life/

Back to Top

40% of Irish workers suspect colleagues of absence and leave policy misuse

Irish workers are increasingly dissatisfied due to staff shortages and weak leadership, with some seeking new jobs, according to HR software firm SD Worx. A survey of 1,000 employees found 40% reporting absenteeism or leave policy misuse in their teams, yet only 21% admitted to unapproved absences- suggesting either reluctance to confess or excessive suspicion among colleagues. More from the Irish Times:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/work/2025/05/15/irish-workers-express-growing-dissatisfaction-amid-staff-shortages/

Back to Top

I have an employee who is requesting to work remotely on grounds of disability. How do I handle it?

In this month's How Do I Handle It, Michelle Ryan, Partner and Head of Employment Group, RDJ LLP answers this tricky question having regard to both the Workplace Relations Commission Code of Practice and the Employment Equality Acts, 1998 – 2025 and employers' obligations under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023. Read the full analysis here: 
I have an employee who is requesting to work remotely on grounds of disability. How do I handle it?

HR Interview Series: Mairéad Golding

Mairéad Golding, Director of People & Change, Flogas Ireland answers Legal Island's questions in this month's HR Interview Series. Check it out here:
HR Interview Series: Mairéad Golding

Unfair Dismissal: Mitigation of Loss: How far does the duty extend?

Sinead Morgan, Legal Director at DAC BEachcroft, examines how far an employee’s duty to mitigate loss extends following unfair dismissal under Irish employment law. It reviews recent Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) decisions, highlighting how tribunals assess efforts by employees to reduce their financial losses after being dismissed. Read more here: 
Unfair Dismissal: Mitigation of Loss: How far does the duty extend?

Back to Top

Rumours during recruitment: how should HR respond?

Stories and rumours about candidates can emerge during the recruitment process, but how seriously should they be taken? Personnel Today looks at why hiring teams should tread carefully:
https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/rumours-during-recruitment-how-should-hr-respond/

But isn’t DEI just politics?” How to Handle Tricky DEI Discussions Gracefully

We've all been there—you’re in a meeting, introducing a new DEI initiative, when someone casually says something like, “Ah now, we don't need to be getting political in the office.” It’s one of those slightly awkward moments where you might pause, take a deep breath and think, “Right, how do I respond to this one?”? GORM provides guidance on handling these conversations:
https://www.gormmedia.com/resources/isnt-dei-just-politics---how-to-shut-down-that-nonsense?

How new job trends show our deteriorating relationship with work

There has been quite a change in many people's attitude to how they earn a living and work increasingly doesn't feel like it's working. John-Paul Byrne, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, looks at the changes in this article for RTÉ:
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2025/0514/1512732-work-jobs-trends-quitting-resignation-stress-burnout/

CIPD: HR practices in Ireland

The latest insights into the strategies and challenges of the people profession in Ireland:
https://www.cipd.org/ie/knowledge/reports/hr-practices-ireland-survey/

Back to Top

A hotel night manager sacked for bullying a gay colleague has won €3,000 for unfair dismissal because his employer missed an email from him attempting to appeal his firing. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has found the hotel operator, Cantarini Limited “acted reasonably” by sacking the worker, Omar Mohammed Osman – but breached the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 when it missed his email asking to exercise his right of appeal, and failed to respond. The Irish Times has more on this story:
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2025/05/09/hotel-manager-fired-for-bullying-gay-colleague-wins-compensation-for-lack-of-appeal/

SIPTU members at AbbVie's manufacturing facility in Carrigtwohill have served a notice of industrial action commencing next week in a dispute concerning pay and anti-union practices being implemented by the pharmaceutical manufacturer. Members of the trade union will begin industrial action on Monday, May 19th, SIPTU said. The Irish Examiner has more here:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/companies/arid-41630644.html

Tech Giant Microsoft has started to lay off almost 3% of its global workforce. The company has not disclosed the total number of job cuts, but it will amount to approximately 6,000 people reports the Journal:
https://www.thejournal.ie/microsoft-cutting-almost-3-of-jobs-6704113-May2025/?utm_source=thejournal&utm_content=top-stories

An executive chef at Avoca’s Monkstown restaurant in south Dublin was offered a chef role in China by his employer during the pandemic before being unfairly dismissed through redundancy. At the WRC, adjudicator Davnet O’Driscoll has ordered Avoca Handweavers Shops Limited to pay Mark McGillycuddy €57,166 for his unfair dismissal in November 2020. The Irish Examiner has more:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/business/companies/arid-41632258.html

A new pilot programme by Kepak and Meat Business Women aims to boost confidence among women in food industry factory roles. Developed in response to workforce feedback, it addresses gender bias and a confidence gap, identified as key challenges in operations and manufacturing. More from Business Plus:
https://businessplus.ie/media-plus/food-industry-programme-women-expanded/

Back to Top

Inclusive workplaces, healthy minds: EU Diversity Month 2025

This May, EU Diversity Month 2025, spotlights mental health and well-being at work. Led by the European Commission, the initiative promotes equal, inclusive workplaces where all voices are heard and valued. You can find articles and resources here:
https://osha.europa.eu/en/oshnews/inclusive-workplaces-healthy-minds-eu-diversity-month-2025

Back to Top

MCS Lunch and Learn: What Top Recruiters Know that You Don’t (Yet)       

🗓  Thursday, 22 May 2025
🕚 12:00 – 12:45 (45 mins)
💻 Online

Register HERE.
                                                            
Join Julie from Legal Island for an MCS Lunch and Learn webinar with leading recruitment experts Ryan Calvert and Rebekah Mulligan. In the first quarter of 2025, the business and recruitment landscape has already been reshaped by macroeconomic, socio-economic, and political forces. Policy changes, inflationary pressures, and shifts in the labour market are compelling organisations across the UK and Northern Ireland to reassess their HR strategies. As workforce dynamics continue to evolve and skills demands grow, it’s essential for HR professionals to adapt their approaches to remain competitive and effectively meet new challenges.

In this 45-minute webinar, Ryan and Rebekah will share the latest trends in recruitment, exploring how organisations are addressing skills shortages, meeting the demand for flexible work, and adapting to the changing expectations of today’s candidates. From the rise of AI-assisted applications to the impact of global DEI rollbacks on local employer brands, they’ll outline the trends that will define talent acquisition in 2025 and beyond.

In this session, we’ll cover:

• Evolving Hiring Trends – Gain insight into where job demand is expected to increase in the next year.
• Practical Strategies for Addressing Skills Shortages and Talent Demands – Learn how organisations are responding to economic pressures and shifting labour markets.
• Building an Authentic and Competitive Employer Brand – Discover how cultural fit and retention efforts can strengthen your recruitment strategy.

Learn how to build trust and strengthen your employer brand in an era where candidates are more informed than ever. Our experts will also discuss how HR teams can stay authentic and competitive in a rapidly shifting environment - ensuring your organisation’s values shine through at every touchpoint, from job adverts to interviews and beyond. Expect practical tips, straight-talking insights, and just enough humour to make your talent challenges feel (almost) manageable.

Got questions? Bring them along! Ryan and Rebekah will be answering audience questions, giving you the chance to get expert advice on the issues that matter most to you.

Enjoy the weekend.

Legal-Island

Back to Top