Ireland Employment Law:
Your 2026 Compliance Guide

Gender Pay Gap Reporting: 50+ Employee Threshold

From 2025-2026, employers with 50 or more employees must publish annual gender pay gap reports covering mean and median gaps across hourly pay, bonus pay, and benefits. Reports must be published on the company website and notified to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).

Statutory Sick Pay Entitlement Increases

Ireland's statutory sick pay entitlement continues to increase under the Sick Leave Act 2022. Employers must track the current entitlement for each leave year and ensure payroll reflects the correct statutory sick pay rate of 70% of normal wages, capped at €110 per day.

Pension Auto-Enrolment (AERSS) Launch

Ireland's Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System (AERSS) is scheduled to launch in 2025-2026. Employees aged 23-60 earning over €20,000 who are not in a workplace pension will be auto-enrolled. Employer and employee contributions start at 1.5% each and rise over time. Employers should review payroll systems and communicate the scheme to employees.

Right to Request Remote Working

Under the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, employees have the right to request flexible and remote working arrangements. Employers must consider requests in good faith and provide written reasons for any refusal. BambooHR's flexible working module helps HR teams manage, document, and respond to requests within the required timeframe.

• Minimum wage review effective (if LPC recommendation adopted)
• Statutory sick pay entitlement reviewed
• New leave year begins: check carry-over rules

• Gender pay gap report publication window for employers with 50+ employees
• Reports must appear on company website and be notified to IHREC
• Annual review of employment contracts and policies recommended

• Pension auto-enrolment (AERSS): monitor launch dates and enrolment obligations
• Right to request remote working: respond to requests within 4 weeks
• WRC complaint window: 6 months from alleged breach; keep records current

• Review minimum wage and statutory pay rates ahead of 2027 Low Pay Commission cycle
• Conduct annual equal pay audits ahead of gender pay gap reporting
• Update employee handbooks to reflect any legislative changes

Leave and absence tracking

BambooHR automatically tracks annual leave, sick leave, parental leave and force majeure leave against each employee's statutory entitlements. Accruals, carry-over rules and leave year configurations are all handled by the system.

Gender pay gap reporting

BambooHR's reporting tools let you pull the pay, bonus and benefits data needed for Irish gender pay gap reports. Slice by gender, grade and department to understand your gap and track improvement over time.

Document management and e-signatures

Store employment contracts, disciplinary records, parental leave requests and pension enrolment forms securely. BambooHR's e-signature feature ensures documents are signed, dated and stored in one auditable place.

Compliance alerts and reminders

Set automated reminders for probation reviews, visa expiry dates, training renewals and other time-sensitive compliance items. Nothing falls through the cracks when BambooHR is managing your calendar.

Payroll integration for statutory deductions

BambooHR integrates with Irish payroll providers including Megapay, Payroll IT and Sage Micropay, ensuring statutory sick pay rates, redundancy calculations and leave encashments flow directly into payroll without manual re-keying.

WRC audit trail

Every action in BambooHR is logged with a timestamp and user attribution. If you face a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudication, your BambooHR records provide a comprehensive, court-ready audit trail.