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2 1995

ADOPTIVE LEAVE ACT, 1995

PART IV

Amendment or Application of Other Enactments

Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977

Amendment of section 1 of Act of 1977.

22. —Section 1 of the Act of 1977 is hereby amended by the insertion after “In this Act—” and before “contract of employment” of the following:

“‘adopting parent’ means an employee who is an employed adopting mother, an adopting father or sole male adopter within the meaning of section 2 (1) of the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995;”.

Amendment of section 2 (2) of Act of 1977.

23. —Section 2 (2) of the Act of 1977 (which specifies dismissals in relation to which that Act does not apply) is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph (c) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994) of the following:

“, or

(d) dismissal where the employee's employer at the commencement of the employment informs the employee in writing that the employment will terminate on the return to work with that employer of an adopting parent who is absent from work while on adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave under the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995, and the dismissal of the employee duly occurs for the purpose of facilitating the return to work of the adopting parent.”.

Amendment of section 6 (2) of Act of 1977.

24. —Section 6 (2) of the Act of 1977 (which specifies the matters which cause a dismissal resulting from any of those matters to be an unfair dismissal) is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph (g) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994) of the following paragraph:

“(h) the exercise or contemplated exercise by an adopting parent of her right under the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995, to adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave.”.

Amendment of section 6 of Act of 1977.

25. —Section 6 of the Act of 1977 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2A) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994):

“(2A) Sections 3 and 4 of this Act do not apply to a case falling within paragraph (f), (g) or (h) of subsection (2) of this section and, for the purposes of those paragraphs, ‘employee’ and ‘adopting parent’ include a person who would otherwise be excluded from this Act by paragraph (a), (c), (f) or (g) of section 2 (1) of this Act.”.

Adopting parent not permitted to return to work.

26. —(1) This section applies to an adopting parent within the meaning of section 1 of the Act of 1977 as amended by section 22 who, having complied with section 20 , is entitled to return to work but is not permitted to do so by her employer, the successor or an associated employer.

(2) For the purposes of the Act of 1977 an adopting parent shall be deemed to have been dismissed on the date specified in the relevant notification under section 20 (1), and the dismissal shall be deemed to be an unfair dismissal unless, having regard to all the circumstances, there were substantial grounds justifying the dismissal.

Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1967.

27. —Section 2 of the Act of 1967 is hereby amended by the insertion after the definition of “the Act of 1952” and before “business” of the following:

“adopting parent’ means an employee who is an employed adopting mother, an adopting father or sole male adopter within the meaning of section 2 (1) of the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995;”.

Amendment of Schedule 3 to Act of 1967.

28. —Schedule 3 to the Act of 1967 is hereby amended by the insertion after paragraph 5 (1) (d) (inserted by the Maternity Protection Act, 1994) of the following paragraph:

“(e) a period during which an adopting parent was absent from her work while on adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave under the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995”.

Adopting parent not permitted to return to work.

29. —(1) This section applies to an adopting parent within the meaning of section 2 of the Act of 1967 as amended by section 27 who, having complied with section 20 , is entitled to return to work but is not permitted to do so by her employer, the successor or an associated employer.

(2) For the purposes of the Act of 1967, an adopting parent shall be deemed to have been dismissed by reason of redundancy, the date of dismissal being deemed to be the date specified in the relevant notification under section 20 (1).

Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973

Adopting parent not permitted to return to work.

30. —(1) This section applies to an adopting parent who, having complied with section 20 (1), is entitled to return to work but is not permitted to do so by her employer, the successor or an associated employer and who is an employee to whom the Acts referred to in subsection (2) apply.

(2) For the purposes of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts, 1973 to 1991, the contract of employment of an adopting parent to whom this section applies shall be deemed to have been terminated on the date specified in the relevant notification under section 20 (1).