Plans for legislation giving employees the right to request remote working were announced with much fanfare last year but on Wednesday night, the law was quietly passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas.

Aside from a handful of press releases from interest groups and politicians, one would barely have known that the 'Work Life Balance Bill' was cleared to become law.

Now that the legislation has been passed, what happens next and when will employees be able to apply for remote work under this new regime?

Controversial beginnings

As soon as the Government's plan for a 'Right to Request Remote Working Bill' was announced in January 2022, it was met with criticism.

Unions said that it was stacked in favour of the employer when it came to grounds for refusal and grounds for appeal.

Employers warned that it may result in additional administrative burdens for businesses.

The legislation was designed to give employees the right to request remote working and to require employers to provide reasonable grounds for refusing such requests.

In the original draft bill, the Government listed 13 grounds for refusal - in other words, 13 reasons that an employer could use to say no to a request for remote working.

These included the nature of the job not allowing for the work to be done remotely, potential negative impact on performance, the burden of additional costs and concerns about the suitability of the proposed workspace.

The then general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade...

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