Hiring employees in Ireland involves compliance with local labor laws, robust employee protections, and specific requirements around taxes and benefits. Omnipresent’s Employer of Record (EOR) service streamlines the process and ensures compliance.

* Once we receive the relevant documents from the employee, the contract is approved by all parties, and the deposit (if applicable) is paid, Omnipresent can onboard the employee within just 2 business days.

Ireland has a comprehensive healthcare system funded through general taxation revenue and Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) contributions. It is common for employers to offer supplementary Health Insurance to employees.

Omnipresent offers supplementary Health Insurance as part of combined employee benefits packages including Health, Dental, Life, Disability and Pension Insurance. There are 3 levels namely Silver, Bronze and Gold.

Health Insurance covers in-patient, out-patient, maternity, dental, psychiatric and alternative health treatments. Dependents can be added on request.

Note: The packages are set and are not interchangeable or available as stand alone policies.

Retirement benefits are provided through the social security system.

Employers are also required to provide access to a Personal Retirement Savings Plan to employees, however are not required to contribute.

Omnipresent offers supplementary Retirement Benefits as part of the combined employee benefits packages as mentioned above.

Typical employer contribution rates range between 5-12 % of the employees salary.

Death and Disability benefits are provided through the state social security system in Ireland. It is common for employers to provide supplementary benefits to the employees.

Our packages include Life and Disability Insurance (known locally as Income Protection). There is also a choice to add 2 optional extras including travel, sports, wellbeing, fertility, maternity, children or mental health benefits.

We offer indefinite, fixed-term, and part-time contracts in Ireland.

Written employment contracts are mandatory and should outline the terms and conditions of employment and provide clarity for both employers and employees. Omnipresent ensures that all necessary key terms are included in the employment contracts we provide.

Contract language: English.

Signature requirement: Digital signatures are accepted.

Backdating: Not possible as per Omnipresent’s policy.

We provide optional clauses for customisation when adding an employee to our platform. This allows you to tailor certain contract aspects, such as unlimited time off or sick days over the legal minimum.

However, certain contract elements cannot be customised due to compliance risks or Omnipresent's policy. Examples include overtime, restrictive covenants, and stylistic changes. Please see here details about our customisation policy.

During the probation period, employers evaluate an employee's suitability for the role they have been hired for. It gives the employer an opportunity to assess their performance and determine if they are a good fit for the company. We believe that this process benefits both the employer and the employee.

Here are some key points to know about the probation period:

Please note that the only exception to our policy is in the case of a transfer of the employment relationship.

Our normal onboarding timeline for Ireland is 2 business days. The onboarding steps involved are: Platform Setup, Right-to-Work Check, Employment Contract, Benefits and Payroll enrollment. This timeline does not include exceptions such as visas and medical & background checks.

For each employee payroll cycle, the Omnipresent must provide Ireland’s tax authorities with payroll information for each employee, including the amount of pay, the payment date, and the amount of Income Tax, Universal Social Charge and Local Property Tax deducted.

We currently do not provide visa sponsorship in Ireland through our OmniEntity.

Omnipresent will carry out right to work checks before the employee starts working.

If the employee has previously worked for you, whether in another country or through another EOR provider, we can recognise their length of service. This recognition of seniority will need to be mentioned in the employment contract.

Employees have the right to take at least 26 weeks of maternity leave.

Paternity leave gives new parents 2 weeks off work.

Employees have a right to 5 days of paid sick leave per year in 2024. In 2025, this will go up to 7 days, and 10 in 2026.

Sick days can be taken as consecutive days or non-consecutive days.

The sick pay year is the calendar year, so it runs from 1 January to 31 December.

Most employees in Ireland are entitled to a minimum of 4 weeks paid annual leave, not including public holidays.

Some things to have in mind:

1. When the employee could not take vacation for health situations, maternity leave / this can be agreed between the employer and the employee.

2. Cases where the employer refuses the vacation period - example of Christmas - then a carry-over must be agreed.

Ireland currently has 10 regular holidays.

The payroll cycle in Ireland is monthly.

The standard work schedule in Ireland consists of up to 48 hours per

week, with the work week running from Monday to Friday.

Omnipresent is unable to accept employees on an hourly wage.

From Jan 1, 2025, the minimum wage will be EUR 13.50 per hour.

Employees are entitled to additional allowances, though many are customary rather than mandatory.

There is no statutory overtime pay in Ireland, aside from for services performed on a Sunday. This is called “Sunday Premium” and it is paid unless expressly provided in the calculation of employee’s wage (typically limited to lower, hourly paid employees).

A Sunday premium is not payable where the fact that an employee may be required to work on a Sunday has already been expressly factored into their salary.

While there are no statutory obligations, contractually, the employer and employee can agree in the employment contract if an employee has to work overtime and the rate of pay they receive in this case.

The employer costs depend on a variety of employee variables. These costs range between 8.8% and 11.05% of the employee salary. To get a more detailed estimate based on the employee salary use the OmniCalculator, or contact us for further information.

Before proceeding with a termination (including verbal discussion with the employee about the risk of termination) you must first get in touch with Omnipresent. We will then provide guidance on next steps. You can read our full guidance here.

To initiate a termination, you need to submit a termination request through the OmniPlatform after which our relevant teams will assess the case and plan a compliant termination process.

There is no mandatory severance pay except in case of redundancy.

At a minimum, employers must give employees the following statutory period of notice:

If the employee’s contract provides for notice more than the statutory period, the contractual notice must be given.

In practice, white collar employees expect the employer to grant notice above the statutory minimum.

Payment on Lieu of Notice (PILON) clauses can be very useful for employers and are very common in Ireland. This contractual provision permits an employer to pay the employee their entire notice pay in a lump sum in return for agreeing not to work out their notice period. PILON does not affect the employee’s termination date.

The employer might have reasons to want to restrict the employee’s access to your premises as part of the termination process and a PILON clause allows you to do this.

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