Parental Leave
The Parental Leave Acts 1998 -2019 allow parents to take parental leave from employment in respect of certain children. A person acting in loco parentis with for an eligible child is also eligible.
Parental leave for parents of eligible children will increase from 18 weeks to 22 weeks from September1st2019 and from 22 to 26 weeks from September 1st2020. (If you have already taken some, or all of the current entitlement to 18 weeks parental leave, you will still get the extra eight weeks of parental leave, if your child is still eligible.)
There has been an increase in the age of children that parents can take parental leave for. This has increased from 8 to 12 years of age.
Contracts of Employment
Anyone who works for an employer for a regular wage or salary automatically has a contract of employment. Although the complete contract does not have to be in writing, employee’s must be given a written statement of terms of employment.
Since March 4th2019, you must receive part of this statement, containing certain core terms of employment, within the first 5 days of starting a job. You must receive the remaining terms in writing within 2 months of starting work.