Opinion: there are both big wins for employees and glaring omissions in the Government’s new bill aimed at the hospitality sector

The Payment of Wages (Amendment) Bill was published this week by Tánaiste Leo Varadkar. This is a welcome development and one that has been sought by hospitality worker advocates for quite some time. In devising a new piece of employment law, the Government should balance the needs of workers with those of employers.

By its nature, employment law tends to weight its protections on the side of workers as the weaker party (although by no means ‘weak’) in the relationship. However, State ideology also plays a critical role. Under a neo-liberal ideology, for example, employer/business needs are given paramount and, in some cases, are the only consideration. Continue reading…