The Labour Party, as well as a number of trade unions and campaign groups, have called for stronger remote working rights for employees.
A right to request remote working came into force in March 2024 which obliges employers and employees to have regard to a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) code of practice when considering applications for remote working arrangements.
Workers can take a case to the WRC if they believe their employer has failed to fulfil their obligations under the code.
Labour, Forsa, the Financial Services Union, the National Women's Council of Ireland and One Family came together today to call for stronger legislation that would guarantee a right to remote working, as opposed to a right to request it.
Labour will introduce a bill this week that includes an enforceable right to remote work where roles allow.
"Under current law, as long as the refusal is documented, it stands, no matter how arbitrary or outdated the reasoning," said Labour TD Mark Wall.
"Labour’s Bill would change that by giving workers a clear, enforceable right to work remotely where their role allows, and by ending refusals based on habit, suspicion or a fixation with visibility instead of outcomes," Mr Wall said.
Niall Shanahan of the Forsa trade union said efforts by some employers to reduce flexible working for staff is short-sighted.
"Pushing people back to the office ignores a number of big things, not the least among them is the housing crisis," Mr Shanahan said.
"It makes recruitment harder for younger people and it deepens inequality between those who can afford to live near the work, and those who can't," he added.
Corrinne Hassone, National Women’s Council of Ireland, said they are supporting calls for stronger remote working laws.
"There should be an onus on the employer to clearly show that the quality of the work is being compromised by remote of flexible working and it can't just be based on a general sense or intuition," Ms Hassone said.
As of last month, the WRC had received 72 remote working complaints and 42 have been closed.
Just one has been upheld, 12 have rejected, 5 were resolved by mediation and 24 were withdrawn.
The remaining 30 complaints are awaiting a hearing and/or a decision by an Adjudication Officer.
At the end of last year, the Government ran a public consultation seeking views on the right to request remote working which received 8,410 responses.
The Department of Enterprise said today that Ireland was among the first EU Member States to legislate for the right to request remote working.
"It is considered that our legislative framework strikes an appropriate balance between flexibility and competitiveness," a spokesperson said.
"It provides employees with a framework to request a remote working arrangement while maintaining the ability for businesses to organise and manage their operations in the most efficient and effective manner," they added.
