MINIMUM SPECIAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENT REGULATIONS

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 452.101

MINIMUM SPECIAL LEAVE ENTITLEMENT

REGULATIONS

1st January, 2008

LEGAL NOTICE 432 of 2007, as amended by Legal Notices 118 of 2010,

62 of 2020 and 275 of 2025.

(1) The title of these regulations is the Minimum Special

Leave Entitlement Regulations.

(2) These regulations establish the minimum rights to sick

leave, birth leave, bereavement leave, marriage leave, injury leave,

leave for jury service, quarantine leave and special parental

bereavement leave, and these shall apply to all employees, whether

on a whole-time or a part-time basis

Provided that employees on a part-time basis shall have the

respective rights on a pro rata basis.

(3) These regulations shall be applicable without prejudice to

the introduction and, or implementation of provisions in other

legislation under the Act, collective agreements or any other

agreement entered into between employers and employees, which

are more favourable to the workers.

(4) Nothing in these regulations shall be construed as reducing

any entitlement enjoyed by any employee on the date of publication

of these regulations in terms of any recognised conditions of

employment or under an existing contract of employment.

(1)

For the purposes of these regulations

''the Act'' means the Employment and Industrial Relations Act;

''bereavement leave'' means leave to be granted to the employee

without loss of wages on the occasion of the death of the spouse,

parent, son, daughter, brother or sister of the employee, and

includes a person who has, or in the past had, legal custody of the

employee, or a person who is in the legal custody of the employee;

''birth leave'' means leave without loss of wages granted to a

father on the occasion of the birth of his child;

"Department" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in the

Social Security Act;

''injury leave'' means leave on full wages, less the full amount of

any injury benefit to which the employee may be entitled under the

Social Security Act, if the employee suffers personal injury caused

by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, or

by any of the diseases specified in the first column of the Fourth

Schedule to the Social Security Act (being a disease due to the

nature of his work) not due to any contributory negligence on his

part or to any contravention of safety rules laid down by the

management;

''jury service leave'' means leave to be granted without loss of

wages to an employee who is called to serve as a juror, to enable

him to attend to his duties at the Courts;

''marriage leave'' means leave to be granted without loss of wages

to an employee on the occasion of his or her marriage;

"quarantine leave" means leave to be granted to the employee

without loss of wages in such cases where the employee is legally

obliged to abide by a quarantine order confining the employee to a

certain area or to certain premises as determined by the Superintendent

of Public Health under the Public Health Act or by any public

authority under any other law;

''sick leave'' means leave granted to the employee whenever an

employee presents a medical certificate certifying incapacity for

work;

"special parental bereavement leave" means leave granted to the

employee without loss of wages on the occurrence of the death of a

child under the age of eighteen (18) years, without prejudice to

bereavement leave.

(2) Subject to the provisions of subregulation (1), terms and

expressions used in these regulations shall, unless the context

otherwise requires, have the meaning assigned to them in the Act.

(1) A whole-time employee whose entitlements are not

covered by a Wages Council Wage Regulation Order shall, on

employment, be entitled to sick leave, of at least the equivalent in

hours, calculated as provided for in subregulation (3), of two

working weeks sick leave in every calendar year on full pay, less an

amount equal to the sum set for sickness benefit entitlement at the

rate established under the Social Security Act, and part-time

employees shall have a pro rata entitlement to sick leave in hours

on full pay, less an amount equal to the sum set for sickness benefit

entitlement at the rate established under the Social Security Act,

which amount is also to be calculated on a pro rata basis

Provided that -

(a) the first three days of any claim for sick leave shall be

paid in full by the employer; and

(b) persons in receipt of a social security pension in

respect of retirement or widowhood in terms of the

Social Security Act shall, for the purpose of

calculating the sick leave pay due, be deemed to have

received an amount equal to the sum set for sickness

benefit entitlement at the rate established under the

Social Security Act.

(2) Unless otherwise provided in an applicable collective

agreement, an employee who has been absent from work on sick

leave shall present a medical certificate issued by a registered

medical practitioner attesting to the employee’s incapacity for work

during any such period of absence. Such medical certificate shall

be presented to the employer on the day of return to work or, if

such period of absence is longer than seven days, within seven days

of the onset of sick leave absence. The employer shall have the

right, if he deems fit, to send a medical practitioner to visit and

examine an employee who is on sick leave.

(3) The sick leave entitlement shall be calculated on the basis

provided for annual leave as specified in regulation 8(1) of the

Organisation of Working Time Regulations.

(4) Notwithstanding subregulation (1), when an employee is in

employment for less than twelve months, the employee shall only

be entitled to sick leave as is in proportion to the period in

employment.

(1) Every employee shall on employment, be entitled to be

granted by his employer

(a) one working day of bereavement leave;

(b) one working day of birth leave;

(c) two working days marriage leave;

(d) up to one year of injury leave;

(e) jury service leave for as long as necessary;

(f)

quarantine leave for any period of quarantine as may be

determined by the Superintendent of Public Health or by

any other public authority;

(g) that number of working days of special parental

bereavement leave which, when added to the bereavement

leave established by an applicable Wages Council Wage

Regulations Order, as the case may be, or in the absence

thereof, the bereavement leave established in paragraph

(a), amounts to a total of seven (7) working days. The

employer has the right to file an application with the

Department for a refund of the payment specifically and

limitedly related to those working days of special

bereavement leave, which application shall be submitted

within three (3) months from when the special parental

bereavement leave would have been availed of by the

employee

Provided that the employer shall not have the right for

a refund of the payment related to those working days

of bereavement leave established by an applicable

Wages Council Wage Regulations Order, as the case

may be, or in the absence thereof, the bereavement

leave established in paragraph (a)

Provided further that in the event that the employer fails to

submit an application with the Department for the refund

of the payment specifically related to those days of special

parental bereavement leave within a period of three (3)

months, he shall forfeit the right to receive such refund.

Provided further that these specific leave entitlements,

with the exception of quarantine leave and special parental

bereavement leave shall only apply in the case of an

employee who is not covered by an applicable Wages

Council Wage Regulation Order.

(2) An employer shall be entitled to request documentation

from an employee

(a) showing when the events referred to in paragraphs (c)

and (e) in the previous subregulation are scheduled to

occur;

(b) showing that the event referred to in paragraph (d) in

the previous subregulation has actually occurred; and

(c) on return to work, showing that the events referred to

in paragraphs in paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (e), (f) and (g) in

the previous subregulation have actually taken place.

(3) The entitlement to bereavement leave, birth leave, marriage

leave and special parental bereavement leave shall be availed of on

the next working day after the occurrence of the relevant event,

unless otherwise requested by the employee, who may request a

postponement of up to two weeks after the event in compelling

circumstances linked to the same event. In such cases the employer

shall grant the employee the postponement as requested.

Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any

provision of these regulations shall be guilty of an offence against

the Act and shall, on conviction, be liable to a minimum fine

(multa) of four hundred and sixty-five euro and eighty seven cents

(€465.87).