Page 17 - Comerford Employee Handbook 2018 v.1

Force Majeure Leave is available in the event of illness or injury to a:
- Parent
- Natural or Adoptive Child, or in loco parentis
- Spouse
- Partner
- Brother or Sister
- Grandparent

Employees are entitled to up to 3 days paid Force Majeure Leave in a 12 month period or up
to 5 days in a 36-month period. Any part of a day taken will count as a full day of Force
Majeure Leave.

By its very definition as urgent leave, Force Majeure Leave is not normally applied for in
advance. As with any absence you are required to notify your manager within one hour of
your normal start time on your first day of absence. If an employee needs to leave work
during the day, the employee must inform her/her manager prior to departure. Upon
returning to work, the employee must discuss in detail with their manager the reasons for
taking Force Majeure Leave and thereafter a formal written notice outlining a summary of the
facts needs to be recorded and given to the employee’s manager. The manager will review
the application for Force Majeure Leave and notify the employee as to whether it is
approved. The company will not deem prior medical appointments eligible for Force
Majeure Leave.

The company wishes to state that all matters appropriate to reasons for this type of leave will
remain strictly confidential and any relevant documentation will be kept securely in the
personnel files. In circumstances where an employee abuses the entitlement to Force
Majeure Leave, the company will take action in accordance with normal disciplinary
proceedings.

M) CARER’S LEAVE

The Carer’s Leave Act of 2001 allows employees to leave their employment temporarily to
provide full-time care for someone in need of it. The minimum period of leave is 13 weeks
and the maximum period is 104 weeks. The company may grant requests for periods of
less than 13 weeks at its discretion. Employees must have 1 year’s continuous service to
be entitled to Carer’s Leave

The person the employee proposes to provide full-time care and attention for must be
deemed a relevant person by a Deciding Officer, from the Department of Social Protection,
whose decision will be based on specific medical information of the relevant person. In order
to receive approval to take a period of carer's leave a written decision from the Deciding
Officer must accompany the completed 'Notice of Carer's Leave' form. The company may
request evidence from the employee that he/she is providing care and attention for the
relevant person. Employees are not entitled to a period of carer's leave where another
employee of the company is absent from employment, during the same period, on carer's
leave for the same relevant person.

The employee must provide the company with a minimum of 6 weeks’ notice when
requesting a period of carer’s leave, however the company may waive this requirement in
exceptional circumstance. Employees must sign a confirmation document, generally two
weeks before the start of the period of Carer’s Leave. This documentation is available
from your manager.

All employment rights are protected while an employee is on carer’s leave, except the right
to remuneration. An employee may be entitled to Carer's Benefit (administered by the
Department of Social Protection) but entitlement to this benefit is not a condition for
entitlement to carer's leave from the company. An employee continues to accrue annual
leave and public holidays’ entitlements for the first 13 weeks of Carer’s Leave only.

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