Employment Law Case Study: Rights to Parental Leave and Employment

This case study examines an employment law issue concerning Dick, who is seeking parental leave after the death of his child's mother and the subsequent illness of his father. The assignment delves into Irish employment law, specifically the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and relevant legislation such as the Employment Act 1994, the Employment Equality Act 1998-2011, and the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act 2005. It analyzes the applicability of parental leave acts, including the Parental Leave Act 1998, the European Union (Parental Leave) Regulations 2013, the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016, and the Carer's Leave Act 2001, to Dick's situation. The analysis considers the rights of employees under employment contracts and the specific types of leave available, such as annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, and paternity leave. The case study concludes that Dick is entitled to parental leave for his newborn child and sick father, referencing the relevant acts and emphasizing that his employment rights should not be affected. The assignment references key legal texts and scholarly articles to support its analysis.

Running head: EMPLOYMENT LAW
Employment Law
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EMPLOYMENT LAW
Table of Contents
Issue.................................................................................................................................................2
Rules................................................................................................................................................2
Application......................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
Reference.........................................................................................................................................5

2EMPLOYMENT LAW
Issue
According to the case study, the issue has found that whether Dick has any ground to
have parental leaves for his children and save his employment or not?
Rules
Under the Irish Law, the Workplace Relation Commission (WRC) describes the
different legislations of Employment Rights and Duties for the employers. As per the
employment rights, the employers get the comprehensive rights on the Employment Labor and
Equity Law (Taylor and Emir 2015). The Employment Act 1994 provides the rights by which
employees make can avail basic employment rights while they receive their employment.
According to the terms of the employment, there are several terms where the employer and
employee can entitle to the contract (Painter and Holmes 2015). It includes
 the rights of work
 date of commencement
 job title
 pay details
 terms and conditions relating to hours of work, and the period of notice
The Employment Equality Act 1998 to 2011 helps to provide discrimination free
grounds of employment, which protects employees from age, sex, religion, race, disability,
marital status and many more. This act provides a fair employment for the employees in their
workplace.

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The Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act 2005 ensure the protection for the
employees in their workplace. This act provides duties and responsibilities of the employers
towards their employees, which are related with the healthy and safety environment in the
workplace. This act helps to protect every employee from hazardous in the employee’s
workplace.
When employees entitled to the employment contract, the contract deals with several
terms which are the rights of work, job title, date of commencement, pay details, terms and
conditions relating to hours of work and the period of notice, which the employer and employee
are, required to give to terminate the contract. According to the employment contract, it consists
with various leaves like annual leave, sick leave and sick pay, other types of leave from work,
public holidays, parental leave, Carer’s leave, maternity leave, adoptive leave and paternity
leave.
Parental Leave Act 1998 provided the rights to parents to take parental leaves from their
employment for taking care to their children. Under the European Union (Parental Leave)
Regulations 2013 amended the parental leave for the children who are aged about 14 weeks to 18
weeks. This leave amendment provide extended leaves for the children who have long-term
illness. Under this parental leaves, no employment rights get affected (Painter and Holmes 2015).
The Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 has stated the legislations for the parental
leave where the person other than the mother can take leave from employment for the case of the
child. The provisions apply to births and adoptions of the child and extended till 6 months of the
process. In this term, the employment depends according to the employment contract. Sometimes

4EMPLOYMENT LAW
according to the employment policies, during the paternity leaves the employer may not pay the
person (Taylor and Emir 2015).
The Carer's Leave Act 2001 provides the leave permit for those employees who want to
take care for any person for temporarily to full time care. The employee is entitled to take leaves
of at least 13 weeks up to a maximum of 104 weeks.
Application
According to the case fact, Jean Dark has died during her complicated labour time and
her 6 weeks early child survives. Dick Francis is the father of the child who is the only person
left in the house to take care of their child. When he applied for the parental leave for 1 year, the
Phoenix Park did not allow him for that. Later his father also suffered due to sudden stroke and
moved with, he is also require for a proper care (Taylor and Emir 2015).
Now according to the Employment contract in Ireland, Dick has right to claim for leave
according to the Parental Leave Act 1998, Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 and Carer's
Leave Act 2001for his new born child and father. The newborn child’s mother has died due to
the complicated pregnancy. Therefore Dick is needed a long-term parental leave for his child.
For the term of his newborn child, he can take leaves for 6 months under the Paternity Leave
and Benefit Act 2016. As the mother has died, the child needs extra care for at least 1 year.
Therefore, Parental Leave Act 1998 provides the leaves for Dick where he can take leave for at
least 14 weeks to 18 weeks. The leaves will not affect Dick’s employment according to the laws
under these employment legislations (Painter and Holmes 2015).

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Conclusion
According to the case study, Dick has right to take leaves for his newborn child and sick
father from his employment.

6EMPLOYMENT LAW
Reference
Barnard, C., 2014. EU employment law and the European Social Model: the past, the present and
the future. Current Legal Problems, 67(1), pp.199-237.
Countouris, N., 2016. The changing law of the employment relationship: comparative analyses in
the European context. Routledge.
Emir, A., 2016. Selwyn's law of employment. Oxford University Press.
Painter, R. and Holmes, A., 2015. Cases and materials on Employment Law. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Taylor, S. and Emir, A., 2015. Employment law: an introduction. Oxford University Press, USA.