IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Philip Tully, Emma Doherty, Geraldine Carr, Simon Shinkwin and Carlo Salizzo, Matheson LLP
the breach. Generally, 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 compa - ny’s employees and the company’s creditors. Directors may be found criminally liable for cer - tain breaches of the Companies Act and other offences including in respect of environmental, data protection, health and safety, and tax law. However, subject to certain limitations in the Companies Act, a company is permitted to indemnify a director in respect of liability incurred in defending proceedings, whether civil or crimi - nal, in which judgment is given in the director’s favour or the director is acquitted, or where the High Court, in an application for relief, declares that the director has acted reasonably and hon - estly. In practice, the directors of Irish subsidi - aries of multinational companies benefit from group-wide D&O insurance policies. 4. Employment Law 4.1 Nature of Applicable Regulations Employment protection laws in Ireland apply to all employees working in the country, irrespec - tive 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 acceptance by the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment following a recommendation from the Labour Court; • collective bargaining agreements; and • custom and practice in the workplace and workplace or industry rules. The primary legislation regulating employment relationships includes: • the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015; • the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2021; • the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2022; • the National Minimum Wage Acts 2000 and 2015 and the Payment of Wages Act 1991; • the Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 1994 to 2014; • the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 to 2022 (and other protective leave legislation); • the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employ - ment Acts 1973 to 2005; • the Fixed Term Workers, Part Time Employ - ees and Agency Workers Protection legisla - tion; • the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997; and • the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003. 4.2 Characteristics of Employment Contracts The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 Under the Employment (Miscellaneous Provi - sions) Act 2018, which was updated by the European Union (Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions) Regulations 2022, employ - ers must notify employees in writing, within five
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