5 Coffee Break Reads:

1. A shortcut too far: when dismissal meets procedural fairness ⚖️
2. Deadline dread? Here’s how to beat the clock ⏰
3. The AI threat? It might just do exactly what we ask 🤖
4. Neurodivergent hiring: support gaps are holding things back 🧩
5. FREE Webinar: Re-thinking DEI: From Consensus to Candour 🎥

And in other news....our Annual Review of Employment Law is back, turning all those headline grabbing legal changes into plain English before they turn up uninvited in your inbox, with top legal minds and sharp HR insight in Dublin or online on 26th November 2026. ⚖️

DON'T FORGET: Hub subscribers get 2 free places at this Autumn’s Skill Builder for HR sessions. 💡

1. Annual Review of Employment Law: Session of the Week
2. Case Law Reviews
3. AI and Employment Law
4. Skill Builder for HR: Workplace Coaching Skills
5. Government urged to act to make teaching profession more attractive
6. Availability of support stalling hiring for neurodivergent workers
7. Employment Growth
8. Just In Case You Missed It....
9. HR Developments
10. Employment News in the Media
11. Free Webinars This Month

Session of the Week: 

Irish Employment Law 2026 Wrap Up and 2027 Forecast

What changed, what caught employers out and what should HR have on its radar for 2027? Join Jennifer Cashman, Partner and Head of Employment Law at RDJ LLP, for a look back at the employment law developments that shaped 2026, from standout cases and legislative changes to emerging workplace trends. A firm favourite at our Annual Review, this popular session brings the key developments together in one place, with practical insights on what they mean for employers and a look ahead at what 2027 could have in store.

FIND OUT MORE

Jargon‑free employment law insights that make your job easier

The must attend HR event of the year is back - 26 November 2026! 

Our Annual Review of Employment Law is the cornerstone event for HR professionals. Join us at the Talbot Hotel Stillorgan or tune in with coffee in hand from your desk. Either way, you’ll access the insights that matter most, brought to you by expert speakers.

EARLY BIRD RATE available until 24th September 2026 at 5:00pm.

BOOK YOUR PLACE

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Radoslav Andonov v eBay European Services Limited ADJ-00048231

Summary: Procedural shortcuts made a potentially justified dismissal unfair.

Practical Guidance for Employers: 

Employers should:

• First identify the true reason for contemplated dismissal in practice. Relabelling conduct concerns as a “breakdown of trust and confidence” will not avoid the safeguards applicable to misconduct. Where insubordination, tone, refusal of instructions or difficult communications are relied upon, the disciplinary policy should ordinarily be used and the allegations stated clearly.
  
  
• Progressive stages should be followed unless the policy and facts genuinely justify acceleration. The employee should receive explicit warning that continued conduct may result in dismissal, the evidence and allegations, reasonable preparation time, representation, an opportunity to respond, and a meaningful appeal. Written warnings, training, mediation, reassignment and other corrective measures should be considered and carefully documented before dismissal.
  
  
• Protected disclosure issues should be assessed separately from personal grievances. Employers should examine whether the worker communicated information tending to show a statutory relevant wrongdoing, rather than focusing only on the label used. Investigators and dismissal decision-makers should be independent, particularly where grievances overlap with conduct concerns. Mental-health information and recent stress-related absence should inform timing, supports and reasonable procedures. Detailed records should show that complaints were addressed impartially, that no retaliation occurred, and that dismissal remained a proportionate last resort within the range of reasonable employer responses. 
  

Read the full Review here.
 

Isadora Borsoi Martelli v Jojo Maman Bebe Ltd ADJ-00064904

Summary: Employer found liable for an unlawful deduction of €20.25 for 1.5 unpaid hours, while the remaining claims concerning annual leave and public holiday entitlements were dismissed.

Practical Guidance for Employers: 

Employers should:

• Maintain reliable timekeeping systems and require employees to clock in and out consistently. Where a manager changes a roster or confirms additional hours, the employer reconciles that information with clocking records before payroll is processed. Any discrepancy is investigated promptly, and the manager who authorised the change provides a written explanation.
  
  
• Ensure contracts and policies explain clearly how annual leave and public holiday benefits are calculated. Where public holiday entitlements are incorporated into an overall leave allowance, employees receive a transparent breakdown showing statutory leave, additional leave, leave taken and the balance remaining. Final payslips should identify all holiday payments and the underlying calculations.
  
  
• Where appropriate, ensure revised payslips are issued without delay and retained with supporting records. Employers should not rely solely on one data source where other contemporaneous records indicate additional work.

Read the full Review here.

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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.

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Cleared for take-off: How Ryanair’s paper trail grounded an AI-assisted claim

The recent Workplace Relations Commission decision in Oliveira v Ryanair serves as a cautionary tale in the context of employment law claims – while AI can draft legal submissions, it cannot discharge the legal burden of proof or be a substitute for genuine engagement with evidence. Read full analysis from Matheson here.

AI Act complaints tool

The AI Act Complaint Tool allows individuals and organisations to submit complaints to the AI Office concerning alleged infringements of the AI Act by providers or deployers of AI systems. The AI Act complaints tool provides a mechanism through which both natural and legal persons can support and strengthen the rule of law.  You can find out more here.

The big AI worry may not be that it betrays us, but that it does what it's told

Machines don’t need to go rogue to cause harm. If we give them flawed objectives, they can pursue them more efficiently than any human ever could. Dr Paul Davis has more in this article from the Journal.

Irish business leaders most cautious in Europe for AI

Irish business leaders are the most cautious in Europe with concerns about AI’s impact on organisations, jobs and autonomous decision making. That’s according to the latest Expleo AI Pulse sentiment tracker. More from Think Business.

AI for HR Weekly Podcast with Barry Phillips 🎙️

Hub subscribers are beginning to request that our Chairman, Barry covers a particular AI topic in a future podcast. If you have a request, send it to him directly at barry@legal-island.com - he’ll feel like a DJ from the 80s…...🎧

You can tune into the latest episode right here - or, if you’re on the move, why not take us with you?

Listen on all major platforms: 🎧 Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Simply search for “AI for HR Weekly Podcast” and enjoy expert insights anytime, anywhere.

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The Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) said the retention of teachers within the system is now “as big a challenge as initial recruitment”. They also said teachers are being deflected from teaching by ever-increasing administrative duties. The union is pressing the Department of Education to introduce effective measures to retain those teachers who have recently started in the profession in the Irish education system. More from the Irish Independent.

The growing gap in the hiring of employees with disabilities in Ireland is due in part to a lack of confidence among employers that they can meet the needs of a more diverse workforce. Social enterprise platform Now Group has published the results of a report exploring the impact caution and fear is having on the recruitment of employees with additional needs. You can read more from Silicon Republic.

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Numbers at work up by 0.8% to 2.8 million in second quarter - CSO

RTÉ reports that employment in Ireland has increased by 0.8% to more than 2.8 million, driven by an increase in older age groups and citizens from across the world coming to work here, according to the Central Statistics Office's latest Labour Force Survey. The statistics for the second quarter relate to the second three months of this year.

Minister Peter Burke and Tánaiste Simon Harris welcome latest figures showing further employment growth in second quarter of 2026

The Q2 2026 Labour Force Survey and latest Monthly Unemployment Release show:

• Employment continues to grow, with 21,200 jobs created in the year to Q2 2026.
• Total employment now stands at 2.84 million.
• Employment growth has been widespread throughout the regions – Employment outside of Dublin increased by 12,000 in the year to Q2 2026 (+0.6 percent).
• Full time employment was up 13,500 (+0.6 percent) year on year in the second quarter, while part time employment was up 7,600 (+1.31 percent) year on year.
• In July 2026, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.1 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the June 2026 rate and up from a rate of 5.0 percent in July 2025.

Read the government’s press release here.

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The Employment Law Hub is a comprehensive, jurisdiction-specific resource designed for HR professionals, legal advisors, and business leaders. It centralises essential employment law and HR updates, expertly curated and written by leading HR and legal specialists to provide reliable, practical, and authoritative insights. We have over 700+ in depth articles and 1000+ case law reviews. As a subscriber, you have access to all of this. Check it out the full Hub here and below are some recent articles you may have missed.....

Pause, Proceed or Separate? Managing a Grievance Raised During a Disciplinary Process 

Managing a disciplinary process may initially appear straightforward where an employer has established policies and procedures in place. However, the process can become more complicated where an employee raises a grievance while the disciplinary matter is ongoing. Read more from Caroline Reidy, Head of HR Solutions, NFP.

The first 24 hours after a workplace accident

When a workplace accident occurs, HR may have to coordinate medical care, safety measures, reporting, evidence preservation and communications at once. The first 24 hours are not the time to decide liability or assign blame. The priorities are to protect people, control any continuing risk, preserve reliable information and begin a fair investigation. Read more from Dalippe Lalloo, Solicitor, Lalloo Solicitors.

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If deadlines are ruining your life, here's how to fix that

Professor Kevin Murphy from the University of Limerick discusses steps to take to make deadlines our friend rather than our enemy in this article for RTÉ. Read here.

How the best leaders shape conversations

This article from the Harvard Business Review reflect how can leaders transform team conversations from sources of frustration into engines of collaboration. More here.

Why bad workplace meetings can harm your wellbeing

Anyone working in an organisation knows it: meetings follow one after another at a frantic pace. On average, managers spend 23 hours a week in meetings. Much of what happens in them is considered to be of low value, or even entirely counterproductive. The paradox is that bad meetings generate even more meetings in an attempt to repair the damage caused by previous ones. This article from RTÉ reveals how to have fewer but better meetings.

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An Independent councillor has finally claimed victory in her bid to save money for the Exchequer by getting electronic payslips for councillors after a seven-year battle, reports Business Plus. The campaign for the relatively simple change began in July 2020 when Geraldine Donohue, from Galway, then a newly fledged councillor, got a motion passed in Galway county council calling for an end to the paper-based system of paying councillors.

In a letter sent to regional HSE management on Monday, CUH CEO Jennifer Kearney said immediate delays appointing just over 800 pre-approved and funded posts, on top of regular vacancies, has led to an unsustainable position as the hospital enters the winter period. The letter details the number of posts that are funded and clinically prioritised but remain unfilled at the moment. More from RTÉ.

Newstalk reports that one in four people think they have lost access to a pension, new research by Royal London Ireland has found.  Since 1st January this year, most workers have been automatically enrolled in a workplace pension under new auto-enrolment rules. However, it appears that a significant number of people who are signed up to a workplace pension go on to forget the details they need to log in and access it.

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Re-thinking DEI: From Consensus to Candour

📅8th September 2026 
⏰11am
📍Live online | Free to attend

REGISTER HERE.

What does effective DEI look like when organisations move beyond consensus and create cultures where people feel able to speak openly, challenge ideas and disagree constructively?

Most organisations have invested heavily in building inclusive workplaces, aiming to bring more perspectives into the room, improve decision-making and enable people to bring their full selves to work.

But a lot of HR leaders are quietly reporting something else.

Meetings where nobody says what they actually think. Colleagues who've concluded the safest contribution is no contribution at all. Capable people stepping around the conversations that matter most, in case they get the words wrong.

If any of that feels familiar, this session is for you.

The webinar will be presented by Barry Phillips, Chairman, Legal Island and  Simon Fanshawe OBE, writer, broadcaster, DEI consultant, and regular contributor to the Guardian and the Sunday Times newspapers.

Missed our webinar? Catch up on demand: New Rules on Retirement Age, What Employers Need to Know

Sponsored by HRLocker

Ireland's new contractual retirement age framework is now in force, bringing significant changes for employers.

In this webinar, Laura McKee from Legal Island is joined by Anne O'Connell of Anne O'Connell Solicitors to explain what the new rules mean in practice, including retirement procedures, employee requests to work beyond retirement age, and the steps employers should take now.

Watch the recording HERE or listen to the podcast.

Check out previous discussions:
Legal Island's Webinar & Podcasts

Enjoy the weekend!

Legal Island

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