politics

State may cut number of reasons employers can give for refusing remote work requests

The remote working bill has proved controversial with unions, partly because it gives businesses 13 grounds on which to refuse a worker’s remote work request

Under the draft legislation, published in January by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, employers are able to refuse to grant an employee’s right to work remotely on at least 13 different grounds. Picture: RollingNews

The government is considering a plan to make it easier to work from home by reducing the number of justifications an employer can offer for refusing an employee’s request, politicians will hear tomorrow.

Officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) will appear in front of an Oireachtas committee to discuss a bill that would give workers the right to ask if they can work remotely, rather than in the office.

As part ...