Employer of record in Ireland: costs, rules and how to hire

Irish written terms arrive in two instalments, and the first one is fast. Give the employee the required core written terms within five days of starting and the remaining written statement within one month, covering employer and role, place of work, pay and frequency, expected hours, probation, leave, pensions and notice. Agency-worker statements also identify user undertakings, and relevant changes must be notified no later than the day they take effect.

Put the important terms in writing

Give the employee a usable agreement before work begins where possible, spelling out salary, pay date, working hours, overtime approval, place of work, remote arrangements, leave, pensions and how concerns are raised. Check any collective agreement or sectoral order that applies to the role, because those can set the floor.

Probation and fixed-term work

The general maximum probation period is six months, with limited exceptions allowing up to twelve months, and public-service rules differ. A fixed-term probation must be proportionate to the contract and the work, and renewing a fixed-term contract for the same functions cannot restart probation. Probation removes neither minimum pay, notice nor protected rights.

For modern successive fixed-term contracts with the same or an associated employer, two or more continuous contracts generally cannot exceed four years in total, though objective grounds can justify a further renewal. Without a lawful exception, a term breaching that rule has no effect and the contract becomes indefinite.

A client project ending is not a dismissal process. Have the EOR explain how the contract ends and what notice, redundancy or other protections apply, and avoid renewing a temporary contract for the purpose of avoiding permanent-employment obligations, because that is exactly what the four-year rule is aimed at.

Outside work, confidentiality and intellectual property

Irish rules generally protect an employee's ability to work for another employer outside the agreed schedule, so restrictions need objective grounds such as confidentiality, conflicts of interest or health and safety, and those grounds should be documented. A blanket exclusivity clause needs review before it goes into a contract.

Ask the EOR to explain how intellectual-property rights, confidential information and access to company systems are handled between the employee, the EOR and your business. Any proposed post-employment restriction needs a local assessment of the actual role and purpose rather than a standard clause carried across from another country.

Changes and predictable work

Notify relevant changes to the written particulars no later than the day they take effect. For an unpredictable schedule, identify the guaranteed hours, the reference days and hours, and the required assignment notice. The employee can have a right to refuse an assignment outside those conditions without adverse consequences, which is worth building into the scheduling process rather than discovering later.

Misclassification risk, and the framework Revenue applies

Ireland has moved to a structured test and it is worth knowing before you paper anything. Calling someone a contractor does not settle their Irish tax status: the revenue authority requires the actual relationship to be assessed under a five-step framework following the Karshan judgment, and control, personal service and the full working arrangement all matter. Source: the approved Irish contractor guidance, Revenue code of practice on determining employment status, checked 18 September 2026.

The part hirers underestimate is that one answer does not cover you. Tax, social insurance and employment-rights determinations sit with separate authorities, so an arrangement can be assessed differently depending on who is asking, and each relevant position needs reviewing before you use a contractor instead of employment. Source: the approved Irish contractor guidance, checked 18 September 2026.

What a hirer does about it: run the arrangement against the framework before the engagement rather than after, and be honest about personal service and control, which are the two the framework tests first. Where the person will do the work themselves, under your direction, as part of your business, employ them. I am not quoting a penalty figure because I have not verified one; the point is that three authorities can each reach their own answer.

The first item on this list is the one that changes legal exposure rather than cost, and it is the reason to read an Irish EOR proposal carefully rather than quickly.

What to check before signing

Ask the provider to answer each of these against the actual arrangement.

• Client responsibility: agency-worker duties can reach the hirer, including the treatment of unfair dismissal.
• October payroll: PRSI rates change on 1 October 2026, so a September quote needs the later rate built in.
• Pension coverage: MyFutureFund is already operating. Confirm enrolment or a qualifying exemption and the employee's payroll notification.
• Leave versus pay: maternity, paternity and Parent's Leave do not automatically mean full employer-funded salary.
• Holiday calendars: Good Friday is not a statutory public holiday, and a Saturday holiday does not automatically make Monday a day off.
• End of an assignment: stopping the EOR service does not by itself settle notice, dismissal protection or redundancy pay.

Do not rely on an old immigration summary

Irish permit law moved in a direction that helps EOR arrangements, and much of the published guidance has not caught up.

The Employment Permits Act 2024 revised the employer definition to allow an agency to employ a permit holder who works for its client, while the older 2021 agency page describes the previous restriction. That change does not guarantee a permit: assess the actual employer, the role, the remuneration and the relevant permit conditions before hiring.

Ask the EOR to confirm the proposed arrangement against the current permit rules, including who employs the person, what the actual work is and which remuneration route applies. A local agency licence and an immigration permission answer two different questions.

Payroll and bonuses

Specify whether pay is weekly, fortnightly, monthly or otherwise in the written terms, because there is no single monthly cycle for every Irish hire. The minimum-wage pay reference period must be no longer than one month. Agree the pay date and provide the legally required pay statement.

State whether an annual bonus, commission or additional salary payment is guaranteed, conditional or discretionary, and when it is earned and paid. Include any binding contract or collective-agreement entitlement in the quote, and ask how deductions, payslips and final payments are handled.

Employer PRSI is the whole of the ordinary Irish employer charge, and it changes mid-year. For ordinary Class A employment through 30 September 2026 the employer pays 9.00% on reckonable weekly pay from €38 to €552, or 11.25% on all reckonable pay when weekly pay exceeds €552, and from 1 October those become 9.15% and 11.40%. Those rates already include the National Training Fund levy, and other PRSI classes follow different rules.

Income tax and USC

Irish PAYE income tax uses 20% and 40% rates, and in 2026 the standard-rate band is €44,000 for a single person before tax credits and reliefs, with married or civil-partner bands depending on assessment and both incomes. Apply the employee's Revenue payroll information, and remember these are employee deductions rather than employer costs.

The standard 2026 USC bands are 0.5% on the first €12,012, 2% on the next €16,688, 3% on the next €41,344, and 8% on the balance, with exemptions and reduced rates available. USC is an employee deduction and carries no matching employer contribution.

Tax credits, reliefs, reduced rates, exemptions and personal circumstances all change take-home pay, so ask payroll to show the actual calculation. A total tax wedge from an international dataset is not the employer's payroll contribution rate.

MyFutureFund and alternative pensions

Automatic enrolment is live and it is a real new employer cost, so check it rather than assuming an exemption.

MyFutureFund began in January 2026, and automatic enrolment generally covers employees aged at least 23 and under 60 whose total earnings across jobs meet the €20,000 annual-equivalent threshold and who have a non-exempt employment. NAERSA determines enrolment from the relevant pay-reference period, qualifying payroll pension arrangements can exempt an employment, and eligible people outside the automatic thresholds can opt in.

For the first three years, 2026 to 2028, the employee and employer each contribute 1.5% of relevant gross pay, with a 0.5% State contribution. Operate the NAERSA payroll notifications and confirm any existing scheme meets the exemption standards, and note that employee contributions do not receive ordinary pension income-tax relief because the State top-up replaces it.

The scheduled employee and employer rates rise to 3% in 2029, 4.5% in 2032 and 6% in 2035, with corresponding State rates of 1%, 1.5% and 2%. An existing pension must meet the applicable exemption standards, so have the provider confirm the actual scheme, the enrolment notice and the current contribution instructions before quoting an exemption or a high-earner annual total.

Opting out or suspending contributions follows the scheme's statutory process. An employer should not stop deductions because an employee asks informally, and the EOR should operate the updated payroll notification.

From 1 January 2026 the national minimum wage is €14.15 an hour for employees aged 20 or over, with €12.74 at 19, €11.32 at 18 and €9.91 under 18. Statutory exceptions and sectoral orders can change the applicable minimum, and overtime and Sunday premiums cannot be counted towards the basic minimum, which is the mistake that turns a compliant rate into a non-compliant one.

Set the salary for the actual role

For context rather than a floor, CSO reports average weekly earnings of €1,046.88 in Q2 2026 as a preliminary estimate, with average hourly earnings of €31.96 and average paid hours of 32.8 per week. That is a broad survey average across covered sectors and working patterns, not a median, not a full-time annual salary and not a quote for the role you are hiring.

Let seniority, occupation, location, skills and the agreed working pattern drive the offer. Note that the survey's average weekly pay mixes working patterns, so multiplying it by 52 does not produce a typical full-time salary. The 32.8 average paid hours is the giveaway.

Working time, overtime and Sunday work

The general maximum is 48 working hours a week averaged over four months, with six-month or twelve-month averaging in qualifying cases. Normal rest protections include 11 consecutive hours daily and 24 consecutive hours weekly following daily rest, with breaks of at least 15 minutes after more than four and a half hours and 30 minutes after more than six hours, including the first break.

Sunday work has its own rule and no fixed multiplier. If Sunday work has not already been accounted for in pay, employees are generally entitled to compensation through an allowance, increased pay, paid time off or a combination, and the relevant comparable collective agreement can inform the premium. Do not substitute one universal overtime or Sunday multiplier for the contract and the sectoral rules.

Put the overtime rate or time-off arrangement in the employment terms and check any sector-specific minimum, rather than assuming every additional hour carries the same statutory premium. Note too that the general rest-break rules do not themselves require the break to be paid, though the contract can provide more.

Most employees receive four normal working weeks of paid annual leave. Calculate entitlement using the applicable hours-worked methods and use whichever gives the greater entitlement, subject to the statutory four-week maximum. A five-day worker's full entitlement is usually 20 days, part-time working weeks differ, and more generous contractual leave remains binding.

Annual leave and public holidays

Annual-leave pay is normally paid in advance at the normal weekly rate, and statutory leave continues to accrue during certified sickness. Where sickness prevents leave being taken, the relevant statutory carryover can extend to 15 months after the leave year, and pay in place of statutory leave is generally allowed only when employment ends.

Ireland has ten public holidays, and Good Friday is not one of them despite a widespread belief otherwise. Eligible workers receive the statutory holiday benefit, which can be paid leave or additional pay according to the rules and the employer's choice, and part-time workers generally need 40 hours worked in the previous five weeks. A weekend holiday does not give a legal right to the following Monday off.

Those are the statutory dates, and the actual benefit depends on the employee's work pattern and the statutory options. Working a public holiday requires the agreed pay for the work plus the relevant holiday benefit, and a company closure calendar should say how the entitlement is being provided rather than leaving it implied.

Sickness and urgent family needs

Statutory sick pay is narrower than its reputation, so check the current entitlement rather than the proposed one. It is five certified sick days per calendar year after 13 weeks' continuous service, paid by the employer at 70% of usual daily earnings up to €110 per day, covering full-time and part-time employees. More favourable employer schemes and separate PRSI-based Illness Benefit need their own assessment, and the previously proposed ten-day expansion is not in force.

Force majeure leave provides limited paid time off where an urgent family injury or illness makes the employee's immediate presence indispensable: up to three days in twelve consecutive months or five days in thirty-six consecutive months. It is a different thing from planned parental leave and from the separate unpaid medical-care entitlement.

That medical-care entitlement gives employees up to five unpaid days in a twelve-month period to provide personal care or support for a qualifying family or household member who needs significant care for a serious medical reason. It is taken in whole days, and the required confirmation and evidence rules apply.

Employees can also take up to five paid days in a twelve-month period for qualifying domestic violence affecting themselves or a relevant person, effectively at the normal daily rate. No advance notice period is required, the employee confirms dates and duration on return, and the employer must not demand details of the underlying facts.

Maternity, paternity and parental leave

Four separate entitlements exist, and the employee's right to time off is a different question from what anyone pays them.

The standard 2026 weekly rate for Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity and Parent's Benefit is €299, subject to the relevant PRSI and other eligibility conditions. Those are State benefits rather than promises that the employer pays full salary during leave, so any contractual top-up should be agreed and costed separately.

Maternity leave is available regardless of length of service or weekly hours, with normally at least two weeks taken before the end of the expected birth week and four afterwards. Paternity leave normally needs four weeks' notice and Parent's Leave needs six, and each type carries its own eligibility and application rules.

Each parent can generally take up to 26 weeks of unpaid parental leave per eligible child before age 12, or age 16 for a child with a disability or long-term illness, normally after one year's service and with a limited proportional exception near the age limit. Taking leave in smaller blocks or transferring some of it requires the applicable conditions and agreement.

Keep the right to time off, the State benefit and any contractual salary top-up as three separate lines, and agree how benefits continue and how the return to work will be managed. The same person can qualify for several kinds of leave, which does not make them one interchangeable allowance.

Additional benefits for the offer

Consider extra annual leave, pension top-ups, medical or income-protection cover, family-leave top-ups, training and home-working support. Ask the EOR to price each benefit and explain eligibility, waiting periods and tax treatment, and keep optional improvements clearly separate from the statutory minimum so nobody later reads one as the other.