The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) was established in  2007 with the aim of securing compliance with employment rights legislation and to foster a culture of compliance for companies in Ireland. Inspectors have powers to enter any employers premises at a reasonable time and demand sight of records required under employment legislation. They may inspect and take copies of the records and interview any relevant persons. Where a breach of employment legislation occurs, NERA's role is to seek compliance and rectification of the breach which includes redress for employees and payment of arrears due.

The basic minimum requirements to have in place for a company in relation to the employment rights of your employees, include…

• A written statement of terms and conditions of employment. (commonly referred to as a “contract of employment”) required under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1973 to 2001.


• Whilst the full contract does not have to be in writing, certain terms and conditions of employment must be stated in writing within two months of an employee starting employment.


• A written statement of pay or pay-slip - The pay-slip should set out gross pay and list all deductions made from it. Eg: - gross to net, rate per hour, overtime, deductions, shift and other premiums and allowances, commissions and bonuses, service charges, board and lodgings etc.


• A minimum wage - Most experienced adult workers in Ireland are entitled to be paid €8.65 per hour. There are however, some exceptions to the minimum wage, including those employed by close relatives, those aged under 18 and trainees or apprentices.


• A maximum working week average of 48 hours a week - The maximum 48 hour week is based on an average calculated over a four, six, or twelve-month period depending on the industry. Employers must keep a record of how many hours an employee works (the days and total hours worked in each week by each employee).


• Unpaid breaks during working hours - Workers have the right to a 15-minute break if working four and a half hours of work and a 30-minute break if working six hours of work.


• Annual leave from work - Any days or hours of leave in each week granted by way of annual leave or in respect of a public holiday to each employee and the payment made to each employee in respect of that leave; any additional day's pay given for public holidays.


• A minimum amount of notice before dismissal - Workers are entitled to a minimum amount of notice if their employment ceases. The minimum amount of notice depends on the length of service.

This list is not exhaustive but does demonstrate what records should be made available for a NERA inspections under a number of pieces of employment legislation. 

Call +353 (0)87 1443640 , email: info@HRBusinesspartner.ie for further information