The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has published the General Scheme of the long awaited Bill providing a framework for employees to exercise a right to request remote working. The legislation remains at draft stage and changes should be anticipated between now and the time at which it is enacted later in the year. Notwithstanding the potential for future change, it appears certain that the following principles will apply:
- Employees with more than 6 months service with their employer will have a right to request remote working.
- Employers will be required to have a remote working policy in place. The current Bill makes it a criminal offence for an employer not to have a written policy in place for its employees.
- Employers will be able to set a timeframe for a response to requests to work remotely, although the timeframe cannot exceed 12 weeks.
- Employees will have to provide certain information in their request, including the proposed location for remote working, the number of days to be worked remotely and a self-assessment of the proposed location, addressing issues such as data protection, confidentiality, internet connectivity and ergonomic suitability of the workspace.
- An employer can refuse a request to work remotely on "business grounds" and the Bill includes a non-exhaustive list of examples of these business grounds, including the nature of the work not allowing for the work to be done remotely, the potential negative impact on quality of business product or service or on the performance of the employee or other employees, the burden of additional costs, concerns for the protection of business confidentiality or intellectual property, concerns for the suitability of the proposed workspace on health and safety grounds and concerns regarding internet connectivity.
- The WRC will have a role in determining whether an employee's application has been addressed in accordance with the legislation, for example whether the request has been responded to within the relevant timeframe, but it will not have the power to direct an employer to allow remote working.
The terms of the Bill are likely to be the subject of discussion and comment, particularly as employees begin to return to the workplace. The Bill indicates that the Department will issue a Code of Practice on the right to request remote working in due course and we will continue to update clients as the Bill advances towards enactment.
For more information please get in touch with Paul Gough or your usual contact in Beauchamps.
