Employment law query

Piera123

Hi there, i have a query about employment law if anyone could help please. I work for a US company in a sales position, office based in Dublin. Over the course of the pandemic i have been working from home, no issues at all. During that time the company hired 5 or 6 new hires to join the 'team' and they are based in different countries around europe. These folks were hired to replace former colleagues who left in the preceding months and who were based in the office with us. We are all doing the exact same job for the various countries we support, i.e Ireland, Spain, Germany, France, UK etc and report to the same manager who is also based in the office. Recently we have been informed that those of us living within driving distance to the office must go back to the office 4 days a week, but obviously the people who were hired abroad can continue to work from home. For me personally this commute is a 100km round trip which involves toll roads, so my question is... do i ( and my other office based colleagues) have grounds for complaint here that we have to go into the office while the others don't? I know the company line is they the folks hired abroad are under a 'different contract' ... but we are all doing the exact same job, the only difference being the territory we work on. thanks for any advice/help on this.

What does your contract of employment say about the location of your workplace?

The Continental Op

OP prior to the pandemic where were you working? If you were in the office then I think thats your answer.

Have a read through this:

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/health_and_safety/working_at_home.html#l0b797

The legislation has not been passed yet, so while you might have to return in the interim, you will be able to request remote working again when it is passed, and they will need a good reason to refuse.

Be aware, they might try to pull the "we are a US company, we're not bound by Irish employment law" - they are.

However, if that's their attitude, you should dust off the CV, and look around for something else.

Also ask them to define what they consider "driving distance" in writing.

Piera123

Thanks all, I appreciate the replies. Yes my contract says office based, and I was working there before the pandemic so they have me on that one. It's just eats away at the 6 or 7 of us that have to trek into the office again while the other half of our colleagues can work from home full time doing the exact same job.

Definitely time to dust off the CV :)