IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Philip Tully, Emma Doherty, Alice Duffy, Simon Shinkwin and Marie McGinley, Matheson LLP
circumstances, accounting for the director’s spe - cific knowledge and experience. An additional duty, to have regard to the interests of creditors, may apply in certain cases (eg, on insol - vency). Where a breach of duty by a director is proved, they may be required to account to the company for any personal gain made and indemnify the company for any loss or damage resulting from the breach. Gen - erally, parent companies are not liable for the acts of limited liability subsidiaries, but they may be liable under parent company guarantees. Directors′ duties are owed (to varying degrees) to the company, the shareholders, the company’s employees and the company’s creditors. Directors may be found criminally liable for certain breaches of the Compa - nies Act and other offences including in respect of environmental, data protection, health and safety, and tax law. However, subject to certain limitations in the Com - panies Act, a company is permitted to indemnify a director in respect of liability incurred in defending proceedings. In practice, the directors of Irish subsidi - aries of multinational companies benefit from group- wide D&O insurance policies.
Enterprise, Tourism and Employment following a recommendation from the Labour Court; • collective bargaining agreements; and • custom and practice in the workplace and work - place or industry rules. 4.2 Characteristics of Employment Contracts The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 Under the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018, which was updated by the European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022, employers must notify employ - ees in writing, within five days of commencement of employment, of the following core terms of employ - ment: • the full names of the employer and the employee; • the address of the employer; • the expected duration of the contract in the case of a temporary contract, or the end date if the con - tract is for a fixed-term; • the rate or method of calculation of the employee’s pay; • any terms or conditions relating to hours of work, including overtime and the number of hours the employer reasonably expects the employee to work per normal working day and normal working week; • the place of work, or where there is no fixed or main place of work, a statement stating that there are various places or that the employee is free to set their own place of work or to work at various places; • the date the employment started; • the job title, grade or nature of the work; and • the duration and conditions relating to the proba - tion period (if any). The Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 Under the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994, all employers are obliged, within one month of commencement of employment, to provide their employees with a written statement setting out certain fundamental terms of their employment. Additionally, if the work pattern is entirely or mostly unpredictable, the employer must provide the employ -
4. Employment Law 4.1 Nature of Applicable Regulations
Employment protection laws in Ireland apply to all employees working in the country, irrespective of the employee’s nationality. Employment law is primarily governed by: • the Constitution;
• statutes and EU law; • judicial precedents; • common law (including contract law);
• statutory mechanisms put in place by the state to regulate certain sectors, including Sectoral Employment Orders (SEOs) which require accept - ance by the Minister of State at the Department of
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