Employers in difficulty should work with staff on cost cuts

Employees can be laid off as a temporary measure to reduce pressure on a company‘s budget, but employers should adopt a graduated approach, such as cutting hours, or a general reduction in pay

Employers can indicate that cuts have to be made and ask staff if they are prepared to make sacrifices to keep the business viable.

The government is enacting unprecedented measures to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus. We are all hoping for the best, but the outcome is far from certain. Employers will be faced with very difficult decisions sooner if revenue starts to dry up.

As most employers know, employee rights, including the right to remuneration, are rigorously protected in Ireland. Equally, once an employee has more than 52 weeks of continuous service, their employment is ...