Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: —In this Act—
“the Act of 1967” means the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 ;
“employee” means an individual who has entered into or works under a contract with an employer, whether the contract be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether it be expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it be a contract of service or of apprenticeship or otherwise, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
“lay-off” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1967;
“lock-out” has the meaning assigned to it by Part II of the Act of 1967;
“Minister” means the Minister for Labour;
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;
“short-time” has the meaning assigned to it by the Act of 1967;
“strike” has the meaning assigned to it by Part II of the Act of 1967;
“the Tribunal” means the Tribunal established under the Act of 1967;
“week” means any period of seven consecutive days;
“year” means any period of fifty-two weeks.
num: 2
paragraphs: —This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.
num: 3
paragraphs: —(1) This Act shall not apply to—
(a) employment of an employee who is normally expected to work for the same employer for less than twenty-one hours in a week,
(b) employment by an employer of an employee who is the father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, stepfather, stepmother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, stepson, stepdaughter, brother, sister, halfbrother or halfsister of the employer and who is a member of the employer's household and whose place of employment is a private dwellinghouse or a farm in or on which both the employee and the employer reside,
(c) employment in the Civil Service (other than in an unestablished position) within the meaning of the Civil Service Commissioners Act, 1956 ,
(d) employment as a member of the Permanent Defence Forces (other than a temporary member of the Army Nursing Service),
(e) employment as a member of the Garda SÃ­ochÃ¡na, and
(f) employment under an employment agreement pursuant to Part II or Part IV of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894 .
(2) The Minister may by order declare that any provision of this Act shall not apply to a class or classes of employment specified in the order and from the commencement of the order this Act shall not apply to that class or those classes.
(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) or (2) of this section, the Minister may by order declare that any provision of this Act shall apply to a class or classes of employment specified in the order and from the commencement of the order this Act shall apply to that class or those classes.
(4) An order made by the Minister under this section may include such transitional and other supplemental and incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient.
(5) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order made under this section, including this subsection.
num: 4
paragraphs: —(1) An employer shall, in order to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for a period of thirteen weeks or more, give to that employee a minimum period of notice calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.
(2) The minimum notice to be given by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of his employee shall be—
(a) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for less than two years, one week,
(b) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for two years or more, but less than five years, two weeks,
(c) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for five years or more, but less than ten years, four weeks,
(d) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for ten years or more, but less than fifteen years, six weeks,
(e) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for fifteen years or more, eight weeks.
num: 5
paragraphs: —(1) The provisions of the Second Schedule to this Act shall have effect in relation to the liability of an employer during the period of notice required by this Act to be given—
(a) by an employer to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for thirteen weeks or more, and
(b) by an employee who has been in such continuous service to terminate his contract of employment with that employer.
(2) This section shall not apply in any case where an employee gives notice to terminate his contract of employment in response to a notice of lay-off or short-time given by his employer.
(3) Any provision in a contract which purports to exclude or limit the obligation imposed on an employer by this section shall be void.
num: 6
paragraphs: —An employer shall, subject to the right of an employee to give counter-notice under section 10 of the Act of 1967 or to give notice of intention to claim redundancy payment in respect of lay-off or short-time under section 12 of that Act, be entitled to not less than one week's notice from an employee who has been in his continuous employment for thirteen weeks or more of that employee's intention to terminate his contract of employment.
num: 7
paragraphs: —(1) Nothing in this Act shall operate to prevent an employee or an employer from waiving his right to notice on any occasion or from accepting payment in lieu of notice.
(2) In any case where an employee accepts payment in lieu of notice, the date of termination of that person's employment shall, for the purposes of the Act of 1967, be deemed to be the date on which notice, if given, would have expired.
num: 8
paragraphs: —Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any employer or employee to terminate a contract of employment without notice because of misconduct by the other party.
num: 9
paragraphs: —(1) An employee may, for the purposes of ascertaining or confirming any term of his employment (including the date of commencement of that employment), require his employer to furnish him with a written statement containing all or any of the following particulars in relation to the following matters, that is to say—
(a) the date of commencement of his employment,
(b) the rate or method of calculation of his remuneration,
(c) the length of the intervals between the times at which remuneration is paid, whether weekly, monthly or any other period,
(d) any terms or conditions relating to hours of work or over-time,
(e) any terms or conditions relating to—
(i) holidays and holiday pay,
(ii) incapacity for work due to sickness or injury and sick pay, and
(iii) pensions and pension schemes,
(f) the period of notice which the employee is obliged to give and entitled to receive to determine his contract of employment, or (if the contract of employment is for a fixed term) the date on which the contract expires.
(2) The Minister may by order provide that employees may require their employers to furnish such further or other particulars of their contracts of employment as may be specified in the order.
(3) Subject to subsection (4) of this section, an employer shall, within one month after he has been required so to do under subsection (1) of this section, furnish to his employee a written statement in accordance with that subsection.
(4) A statement furnished by an employer under subsection (3) of this section may, in lieu of specifying the particulars requested by the employee under this section, refer the employee to a document containing those particulars which the employee has reasonable opportunities of reading during the course of his employment, or which is reasonably accessible to him in some other way.
(5) An employer shall, within one month after an employee commences work with that employer, furnish to that employee the particulars specified in this section.
(6) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this section, including this subsection.
num: 10
paragraphs: —(1) An employer who fails to comply with the provisions of section 9 of this Act shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.
(2) An offence under this section may be prosecuted by the Minister.
num: 11
paragraphs: —(1) Any dispute arising on any matter under this Act (other than a dispute arising on any matter under section 9 of this Act) shall be referred in the prescribed manner to the Tribunal.
(2) The decision of the Tribunal on any matter referred to it under this section shall be final and conclusive, save that any person dissatisfied with the decision may appeal therefrom to the High Court on a question of law.
(3) The Minister may, on the request of the Tribunal, refer any question of law for the decision of the High Court.
num: 12
paragraphs: —(1) If an employer—
(a) fails to give to an employee the notice required by section 4 (2) of this Act, or
(b) fails to comply with the provisions of section 5 of this Act in relation to the rights of the employee during the period of notice,
the employee may refer the matter to the Tribunal for arbitration and the Tribunal may award to the employee compensation for any loss sustained by him by reason of the default of the employer.
(2) The amount of any compensation awarded by the Tribunal under subsection (1) of this section shall be recoverable by the employee from his employer as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.
(3) Proceedings for the recovery of any sum due by way of compensation awarded by the Tribunal under subsection (1) of this section may be instituted and maintained on behalf of the employee by the Minister or by that employee's trade union.
num: 13
paragraphs: —(1) There shall be included among the debts which, under section 285 of the Companies Act, 1963 , are, in the distribution of the assets of a company being wound up, to be paid in priority to all other debts, all compensation payable under section 12 of this Act by the Company to an employee, and that Act shall have effect accordingly, and formal proof of the debts to which priority is given under this subsection shall not be required except in cases where it may otherwise be provided by rules made under that Act.
(2) There shall be included among the debts which, under section 4 of the Preferential Payments in Bankruptcy (Ireland) Act, 1889, are in the distribution of the property of a bankrupt or arranging debtor, to be paid in priority to all other debts, all compensation payable under section 12 of this Act by the bankrupt or arranging debtor, as the case may be, to an employee, and that Act shall have effect accordingly, and formal proof of the debts to which priority is given under this subsection shall not be required except in cases where it may otherwise be provided by general orders made under the said Act.
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paragraphs: —The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed.
num: 15
paragraphs: —(1) Whenever an order is proposed to be made under section 3 , 4 , or 9 of this Act, a draft of the proposed order shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.
(2) Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
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paragraphs: —Any expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
num: 17
paragraphs: —This Act may be cited as the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973.