Remote and Flexible Working Request Ireland (Work Life Balance Act 2023)

Irish law gives employees a right to ask, not a right to work from home. A remote working arrangement under section 16 of the 2023 Act means that work you ordinarily do at the employer's place of business is done somewhere else, with no change to your hours or duties. If you want fewer hours or a different pattern, that is a flexible working request, which is a separate right under Part IIA of the Parental Leave Act 1998 and open only to parents of young children and to carers. The two routes share a structure (written request, eight weeks' notice, four weeks for the reply, signed agreement on approval) but differ in who qualifies. Our template covers both and switches the statutory references to match the route you choose.

Because the Act requires specific content, an email saying "can I work from home on Fridays?" may not trigger the statutory timeline at all. Employees who need other letters for parental or carer's leave will find them among our leave request templates for Irish employees.

Part 3 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 (sections 16 to 29) governs remote working requests. It commenced on 6 March 2024 (S.I. No. 90 of 2024); Part IIA of the Parental Leave Act 1998 commenced the same day (S.I. No. 91 of 2024). Under section 20, any employee may make a request, but an approved arrangement cannot begin before the employee has completed six months' continuous employment. The request must be in writing and signed, state the arrangement and its proposed start date (and end date, if any), set out your reasons, the proposed location and why it is suitable, and be submitted not later than eight weeks before the proposed start. Section 21 then gives the employer four weeks after receipt to approve the request by a signed agreement, refuse it with reasons, or extend the period by up to eight further weeks where it has difficulty assessing viability.

Both regimes rely on the Workplace Relations Commission's code of practice, declared an approved code by S.I. No. 92 of 2024. The WRC publishes the Code of Practice on the right to request flexible working and remote working, which lists what a good request contains: days requested, workstation, privacy, data security, internet connection and distance from the office. The code is admissible in evidence in proceedings under the Act.

A WRC adjudication officer checks the procedure, not the merits of a refusal. Compensation is capped at four weeks' remuneration for remote working (section 27) and twenty weeks for flexible working (section 21A of the 1998 Act). Penalising an employee for making a request is prohibited by section 26 (and section 16A of the 1998 Act), and dismissal for requesting flexible working is automatically unfair under section 6(2)(dd) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977.

Most requests come from an office worker with a long commute who wants two or three days a week at home on a permanent basis. A second frequent case is the employee who is moving further away, for example to Wexford or Sligo, and wants to keep a Dublin role with occasional days on site. New starters can apply early; the arrangement starts once six months of service are complete.

Flexible working fits a different profile. A parent whose child finishes school at 2.40 p.m. may need reduced hours or a later start; an employee whose mother has had a stroke may need compressed hours for a year. Both qualify, provided the child is under 12 (16 with a disability or long-term illness) or the person cared for needs significant care for a serious medical reason. Where you qualify for both routes, flexible working offers stronger compensation but requires a fixed end date. Employers dealing with these requests alongside contracts and policies can browse our Irish employment contracts and HR letters.

The letter opens with the statutory basis, your job title and the arrangement you want: which days, where, and from when. For remote working, it then sets out the location, why it is suitable and your reasons, which are the three items section 20(3)(c) requires. It adds the commitments the WRC code expects: a properly equipped workstation with privacy, a secure internet connection, compliance with data protection and IT policies, cooperation with a risk assessment under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, and attendance on site when business needs require it. For flexible working, the letter identifies the child (date of birth and age limit) or the person cared for, the relationship and the care needed, and encloses or offers the medical certificate defined in section 13B(9).

Procedure fills the second part of the letter. It confirms the six months' service rule and the eight-week deadline, recalls the four-week reply period and the possible extension, offers a trial period if you choose one, and asks for an alternative arrangement if the request cannot be approved in full. It also reserves your protection against penalisation.

On a new page, the draft agreement sets out the arrangement, its start date, its end date or open-ended status, and the review or trial clause. It then lists the statutory grounds on which the employer can end it (substantial adverse effect on the business, or failure to use the arrangement as agreed, each with a 7-day window for representations), your right to request an early return, record keeping for three years, and WRC jurisdiction. Signing it gives the employer the written agreement section 21(1)(b)(i) requires; small firms will find their company paperwork among our business templates for Irish companies.

You start on Captain.Legal with your name, home address, job title and the date your employment started, which the letter uses for the six-month rule. The next screen asks for your employer's legal name, address and the person you are writing to, usually your line manager or HR. You then choose the route, remote working or flexible working for caring purposes, and enter the date you want the arrangement to begin. The questionnaire adapts from there. Remote working asks for the pattern of days, an end date if you want one, the address of the remote location, a description of the workspace and your reasons. Flexible working asks who the arrangement is for, why you need it, the type of change, your new hours and the end date the law requires.

The last screens cover the optional trial period, a phone number or email address, how you will deliver the letter and its date. Move between screens with Next and Back; the preview on the right updates as you type, so you can reread the letter and the draft agreement before clicking Finish. Print and sign the request. If you also need documents for your household, such as a will or a power of attorney, our personal and family legal documents for Ireland are built the same way.

Timing causes the most damage. Employees send the request three or four weeks before they want to start, and the employer is then entitled to say the request does not meet section 20(3)(d). Count eight full weeks back from the start date and add delivery time if you post it. The reply clock also runs from receipt, not from the date on the letter, so hand delivery with a signed acknowledgment saves arguments later.

Vague requests are the second problem: "hybrid working as needed" gives the employer nothing to assess. Name the days, the address and the equipment. Third, employees who want to cut their hours sometimes file a remote working request; under Part 3 your hours stay the same, so a reduction needs the flexible working route, and only parents and carers have it. Fourth, people forget that an open-ended arrangement can still end: the employer may terminate it for a substantial adverse effect on the business after giving you seven days to respond. Finally, never sign the employer's agreement without reading the termination clause, which should mirror the Act rather than allow termination at will.