Remote and flexible working requests in Ireland

The "right to request remote working" is exactly what its name says: a right to ask, with a process the employer must follow, and no right to the answer you want. That distinction disappoints many people, but the process has teeth of its own, and a request made properly is far harder to brush aside than one made in a corridor. This guide covers who can ask, what a request must contain, the 4-week answer and its extension, the grounds for refusal, the flexible working route for parents and carers, what the WRC can and cannot do, and the right to disconnect.

Who can ask

Part 4 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 gives every employee with 6 months' continuous service the right to request a remote working arrangement. There is no restriction by role, sector or reason. You can make the request before the 6 months are up, but the arrangement cannot start until you have the service.

A remote working arrangement means working from a place other than the employer's premises, for all or part of your hours, on an ongoing basis. A one-off day at home is not what the Act is about; a hybrid pattern of two days a week at home is.

What the request must contain

The request must be in writing and must set out:

• the details of the arrangement you are asking for: which days or hours, and whether it is all or part of your work
• the date you want it to start
• the proposed location: the address, and a description of it as a workplace
• why the location is suitable: in practice, a short account of the workspace, the connectivity, the equipment, and how confidentiality and data security will be handled
• your reasons for the request, which the Act asks for and which help the employer weigh it

The WRC Code of Practice on the right to request flexible and remote working, published in 2024, adds what a good request looks like: proposed arrangements for keeping in contact, how the work will be measured, and any trial period you would accept. A request that anticipates the employer's concerns and answers them in advance is the request most likely to be granted. The letter builder produces a request that covers each item the Act lists.

Keep a dated copy. The 4 weeks run from the day the employer receives the request, and the date matters if the employer is late.

The employer's answer: 4 weeks, extendable by 8

The employer must consider the request, with regard to its own needs, your needs and the Code of Practice, and must answer within 4 weeks of receiving it. The answer must be one of three things:

1. Approval, with a written agreement setting out the arrangement: the days, the location, the start date, and how long it runs.
2. Refusal, in writing, with the reasons.
3. An extension, where the employer is having difficulty assessing the request, of up to a further 8 weeks, which must itself be told to you in writing before the first 4 weeks end.

Silence past the deadline is a failure to comply with the Act, and that is something the WRC can deal with.

Grounds for refusal

The Act does not list the grounds on which a request can be refused. It requires the employer to consider the request having regard to the business's needs and your needs, and to give reasons. The Code of Practice fills in what reasons are relevant, and the ones employers rely on most are:

• the nature of the work does not allow it to be done remotely
• the proposed location is unsuitable, for example on data protection, safety or connectivity grounds
• performance concerns in the role
• planned structural changes to the business
• the cost of the arrangement, or the burden of additional costs
• the effect on quality, on performance, or on the other staff
• concerns about the protection of confidential information
• the needs of the business at the time of the request

A refusal that gives one of these reasons has met the requirements of the Act, even if you disagree with it. A refusal with no reasons, a reason that is plainly not the real one, or a reason that applies to you and not to colleagues in the same role, is weaker, and the last of those raises a different question about discrimination (for example on the family status or disability grounds) under the Employment Equality Acts, which has its own route; see discrimination at work.

Changing, ending or postponing an arrangement

An approved arrangement runs on the terms of the written agreement. The Act allows the employer to end it, with notice, where it has a substantial adverse effect on the business or where the employee's conduct justifies it, and it allows you to ask to return to your previous pattern. Either side wanting a change should put the proposal in writing and give the other a reasonable time to respond; the Code sets out the steps.

If circumstances change before the start date, for example a new caring responsibility, you can withdraw or amend the request in writing. If the employer approves a trial period, ask for the review date and the criteria to be written into the agreement, so that the end of the trial is a decision with reasons rather than a quiet reversion.

A request can be refused and then made again later. The Act does not set a minimum gap, but the Code suggests a reasonable interval unless circumstances have changed.

What the WRC can do

This is the part most people find frustrating. The Act gives the WRC jurisdiction over the process, not the decision. A complaint can be made that the employer did not answer within the 4 weeks (or the extended period), did not answer in writing, did not give reasons, or did not consider the request at all. The WRC cannot decide that the employer should have said yes, and cannot order the employer to grant the arrangement. Where it finds a breach of the process, it can direct the employer to comply and can award compensation up to a ceiling the Act sets; that figure is not reproduced here until it has been verified against the Act.

A complaint goes on the online form, with no fee, within 6 months of the contravention; see how to make a WRC complaint and the WRC time limit. Penalising you for making a request, for example by changing your duties or marking you down for it, is prohibited by the Act and is a separate complaint with its own compensation.

Where the refusal is one that applies to you alone, and the reason looks connected to a protected ground, the discrimination route above may carry more weight than the process complaint.

Flexible working for parents and carers

The same Act gives a second, narrower right. An employee with 6 months' service who is the parent of a child under 12 (under 16 where the child has a disability or long-term illness), or who is a carer for a spouse, civil partner, cohabitant, child, parent, grandparent, sibling or someone in the same household who needs significant care, can request a flexible working arrangement for caring purposes.

Flexible working means a change to your hours or pattern: reduced hours, compressed hours, different start and finish times, or a change to the days worked. The request must be in writing, in good time before the start date, with the details, the start and end dates, and the caring relationship (with evidence where the employer asks). The employer has the same 4 weeks to answer, extendable by 8, and must give reasons for a refusal. The arrangement has an end date, and you return to your previous pattern afterwards unless agreed otherwise.

A flexible working arrangement is distinct from the leave entitlements for parents and carers. If what you need is time off rather than a different pattern, parental leave, carer's leave and medical care leave and the leave planner cover those.

Remote working and the rest of the law

Remote work does not change your terms unless the written agreement does. Your pay, hours, leave and notice are what they were. The Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 applies in full: the 48-hour average week, 11 hours' daily rest, the breaks of 15 minutes after 4.5 hours and 30 after 6, and the duty on the employer to keep records of your hours, which for remote workers is often done by self-reporting. The safety legislation applies to your home workspace, and the employer's risk assessment extends to it. Equipment, and who pays for it, is a matter for the agreement.

If you work for an employer based in another country, or want to work remotely from outside Ireland, tax, social insurance and permit questions arise that are outside this guide. Employment permit holders in particular should check the conditions of the permit before working remotely from abroad; employment rights on a work permit links the permit rules.

The right to disconnect

Searches for "right to disconnect ireland" usually expect a law. There is not one. What exists is the WRC Code of Practice on the right to disconnect, issued in 2021, which sets out three elements: the right not to routinely perform work outside normal working hours, the right not to be penalised for refusing to do so, and a duty to respect other people's right to disconnect, for example by not expecting replies to emails sent late at night.

A code of practice is not directly enforceable. Its weight is as evidence. Where you bring a working time complaint, for example about exceeding the 48-hour average week, or about rest breaks eroded by out-of-hours contact, the Code is admissible and the adjudicator can take an employer's failure to follow it into account. The Code also asks employers to have a right to disconnect policy, agreed with staff, and most large employers now do. The working time rules themselves are in working hours and breaks.

A review of the remote working Code is among the changes tracked on /changes.

Where this leaves you

The right is a right to a proper process: a written request, a written answer within 4 weeks (or 12 with an extension), reasons for any refusal, and no penalty for asking. Make the request in the form the Act requires, anticipating the employer's concerns about location, confidentiality and contact, and keep a dated copy. The letter builder drafts a remote or flexible working request that contains each required element, and a follow-up if the deadline passes without an answer. If the employer ignores the process, the WRC route is open; if the refusal looks like it is about you rather than the job, the equality route may be the one to read next. The glossary explains the terms used here.