This document outlines basic rights and responsibilities for both employees and employers. It discusses the key aspects of establishing a successful Safety and Health Management System in schools according to the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. It also describes how the Employment Equality Acts and Equal Status Acts prohibit discrimination and harassment in employment while requiring reasonable accommodation for disabilities. Finally, it notes that fixed term contracts are common in teaching due to temporary posts approved by the Department of Education and Skills and the need to replace teachers on leave with those contracts.

1. Basic rights and responsibilities of
employees and employers
By Robert Louch

2. • The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005
requires every employer, including schools, to develop
and implement an effective occupational health and
safety management system. A Safety and Health
Management System (SMS) in a school setting involves
an on-going process which aims to promote continuous
improvement in the way the school manages safety. It fits
into the overall management of the school and includes
the school structure, planning activities, practices,
procedures, and resources for developing, implementing,
reviewing and maintaining safety, health and welfare.
There are five key steps to achieving a successful SMS.

3. •Step 1: Policy and commitment
•Step 2: Planning
•Step 3: Implementation
•Step 4: Measuring
performance
•Step 5: Audit and review

4. The Employment Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts
are
relevant to the whole range of activities that occur in the
school setting. The Employment Equality Acts prohibit
discrimination in employment and self-employment. This
protection extends to teachers and other staff employed by
the school, and to independent contractors. These Acts
prohibit harassment and sexual harassment of staff by
employers, by teachers or other staff or by students. They
require the reasonable accommodation of employees –
both teachers and other staff – with disabilities. They allow
for positive action. All of these provisions are subject to
exemptions.

5. • promote equality of opportunity
• prohibit discrimination on nine specific grounds
• prohibit harassment on the discriminatory grounds and
sexual harassment
• require reasonable accommodation of people with
disabilities
• allow for positive action.

6. • The nine grounds on which discrimination is prohibited
are
• • gender,
• • marital status,
• • family status,
• • sexual orientation,
• • religion,
• • age,
• • disability,
• • race and
• • membership of the Traveller community.

7. • To give employees a written statement of pay or payslip
• To pay employees not less than the statutory minimum
wage rates,
• To comply with the maximum working week
requirements,
• To provide breaks and rest periods during working hours,
• To give annual leave from work,
• To give a minimum amount of notice before termination of
employment,
• To maintain records in relation to their employees and
their entitlements.

8. Fixed term contracts are very common in the teaching profession in Ireland. This is
due to a number of factors including
• The DES (Department of Education and Skills) sanctioning temporary teaching
posts for a school year, rather than approving permanent posts or contracts of
longer duration
• Teachers taking leave from the school on a career break, maternity leave, sick
leave, carer’s leave, parental leave, job sharing, secondment etc. with the
subsequent need for the school authority, such as the Board of Management, to
find a replacement. This replacement will be given a fixed term contract.
Fixed term contracts for teachers will fall into one of two categories:
• Fixed term where the duration of the contract is known or
• Specified purpose contract where the end date may be uncertain (such as
maternity leave cover or illness cover).