01 561 3594
Mandatory Retirement Bill Features in Spring Legislation Programme

The Government has published its Legislation Programme for the Spring 2025 session. This is the first since the new Government took office.

The following employment-related Bills are listed for priority publication:

  • Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) (Amendment) Bill
  • Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill
  • National Cyber Security Bill

The following employment-related Bills are listed for priority drafting:

  • Equality and Family Leaves (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill
  • EU Data Regulation Bill

Heads for the following employment-related Bills are also in preparation:

Pay Transparency Bill

  • Registration of Trade Unions Bill
  • Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill

 

 

Advocate General Recommends Annulment of Directive on Adequate Minimum Wage

Recent EU legislative developments include an unexpected opinion by the Advocate General of Court of Justice of the European Union who called for the annulment of EU Directive 2022//2041 on Adequate minimum wages in the EU (the AMW Directive).

What is the AMW Directive?

The EU adopted the AMW Directive in 2022. The practical impacts of the AMW Directive include:

  1. A framework for setting and updating statutory minimum wages: Member States with statutory minimum wages are required to have a sound governance framework in place to set and update them. This should include clear criteria, indicative reference values to guide the assessment of their adequacy, and measures to effectively involve social partners in their setting and updating. Statutory minimum wages will need to be updated at least every two years (or every four years for countries with an automatic indexation mechanism). Ireland’s Low Pay Commission fulfils this requirement.
  2. Promoting and facilitating collective bargaining on wages: All Member States should take measures to promote the capacity-building of social partners to engage in collective bargaining on wage-setting. In addition, Member States where the collective bargaining coverage rate is below 80% need an action plan to promote collective bargaining. Ireland has a relatively low level of collective bargaining coverage by European standards and it remains to be seen how the state will comply with the requirement to develop an action plan to promote collective bargaining.
  3. Improved monitoring and enforcement of minimum wage protection: All Member States must collect data on minimum wage coverage and adequacy and report to the Commission every two years. They should also ensure that workers, where their rights are not respected, have access to effective, timely and impartial dispute resolution mechanisms, and are protected from any adverse consequences resulting from their complaints.

Decision of Advocate General

The Advocate General (AG) issued an opinion in January 2025 recommending to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) that the AMW Directive be annulled.

Click through to read the rest of the article here.

 

Adare can Help

Our team of Employment Law and Human Resource experts can be your HR partners and guide you through compliance, ensuring your business knows its obligations, staying protected and informed. Reach out to us at (01) 561 3594 or info@adarehrm.ie for support tailored to your needs. Learn more about our services at www.adarehrm.ie.