Expertise
"They are absolutely excellent across the board."
Chambers Europe
Our Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group was established more than twenty years ago in recognition of the increasing complexity and development of the law in the employment, equality and pensions areas, and the demands from clients for specialist advice. We provide legal advice on all aspects of the employment relationship, including pension schemes, employee benefits and immigration considerations, with particular expertise in advising employers in the tech, financial services and pharma sectors, amongst others. Our work can be broken down into advisory, employment litigation and transaction planning and support. In many cases, our advisory work overlaps with our litigation work as many of the advisory projects have a litigation backdrop. We advise on all Irish and European legislation relating to or affecting the employment relationship and pensions/benefits entitlements.
Our employment and pensions practice has developed into one of the largest and leading such groups in any law firm in Ireland. It is best known as the first port of call for international employers in the Irish market and for consistently being the first firm to advise on complex new areas of employment law as they emerge, such as the Senior Executive Accountability Regime, the Pay Transparency Directive and the EU AI Act. We similarly acted on the first cases to go before the Irish High Court on the Irish Central Bank’s fitness and probity regime when introduced in 2013 and we have represented employers in more High Court litigation relating to this regime than any other firm.
We advise on pensions law from a consultative and compliance point of view; we advise trustees and employers on all aspects of Irish pension arrangements both in the private and public sectors, advising on issues arising from the ongoing management and administration of pension arrangements, from establishment to winding up, including the provision of all necessary trust documentation.
We have extensive experience in advising on benefit restructuring and liability management exercises in defined benefit arrangements, to include advising on enhanced transfer value exercises, section 50 applications and pension increase exchange programmes. We also advise on contentious legal issues and have unparalleled experience in pensions litigation and contentious matters between employers and trustees, especially in the context of restructuring and winding up pension schemes.
In recent years, we have developed particular expertise in cross-border transfer work, to include advising on the transfer of Irish pension benefits to cross border IORPs based in Europe, and the establishment of cross border IORPs based in Ireland. We also have considerable experience in advising in relation to compliance of cross border IORPs with Irish social and labour law.
We work closely with the firm's Corporate and Commercial Group and have advised on a number of the leading merger and acquisition transactions over the last twenty years. This has included the key employment aspects of a number of multi-billion dollar and euro global transactions.
Matheson’s immigration team has extensive experience in helping corporate clients navigate the Irish immigration system on a diverse range of immigration applications, including employment permissions, and advising on entry visa applications, and residency registration. Our team acts as a liaison between businesses and Irish immigration authorities, including Immigration Service Delivery (“ISD”), the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (“DETE”) and the Border Management Unit (“BMU”).
We offer eligibility assessments on short and long-term immigration options to obtain the most appropriate permission for both the business and the relocating employee. We can also help businesses plan strategically for employee mobility and offer immigration training and compliance audits for HR professionals and recruiters. Our experience includes preparing and submitting employment permits, Trusted Partner Initiative and Atypical Working Scheme applications as well as advising on entry / re-entry visas, registering with the Department of Justice, EU treaty rights and dependent residence permissions.
We provide thought leadership on many different employment law and pensions matters, including the increasing ESG reporting requirements faced by employers and the consequences for the deployment of AI systems in the workplace. We do this through our podcast, frequent articles on the Matheson website, bespoke knowledge programmes and webinars, and monthly emails to our clients.
Our Team
- Represented a regulated employer in the first two cases before the Irish High Court on the Central Bank of Ireland’s fitness and probity regime when introduced in 2013.
- Acted on 15 plus projects for international employers moving their UK law European Works Council from UK to Irish law post Brexit, and are seen as the only Irish firm having any practical experience or understanding of this issue. This included advising on the successful defence of a related UK challenge to a global tech client’s right to make this switch, which has set the clear precedent for employers to move to Irish law. We have also acted in the successful defence of a similar challenge for a separate US tech client before the German courts, and a challenge to a redundancy programme before the Belgian courts.
- Advised a global pharma client on the critical employment aspects of a $50 billion merger and the subsequent integration of two very significant Irish businesses.
- Successfully represented a US tech employer on one of the first cases before the Irish WRC under the Irish whistleblowing legislation when first introduced. We continue to act in this area and are the “go to” Irish firm for defending whistleblowing related claims.
- Established as the leading firm advising on the Central Bank of Ireland’s Senior Executive Accountability Regime, similar to the UK Senior Manager Regime. We have been working with regulated employers on the implications of these proposals for their business since 2018.
- Advised a number of US technology clients on preparation for the gender pay gap reporting and strategies to tackle the root cause of their pay gap. We have been involved in this area since 2017.
- We have advised leading private purchasers on the purchase of former state assets and the conversion of employees on public sector terms to private sector arrangements, including in the telecoms and energy sectors.
- We are considered the “go to” Irish firm for defending whistleblowing related claims and have advised in this area since the relevant legislation was enacted.
- We have advised on several high-profile collective redundancy information and consultation processes while avoiding litigation or adverse media attention.
- We advised a global tech company on the dismissal of an incarcerated employee, a highly sensitive and complex manner which illustrates that we are the first port of call for clients looking for advisors who can navigate novel and difficult legal and commercial issues.
The Group offers an experienced team of specialist lawyers who are well positioned to provide top-tier legal advice on all employment and pension law matters, including the following:
- General employment and equality law.
- Preparing, drafting and negotiating contracts such as employment contracts (from basic statements of terms and conditions of employment to more complex service agreements), consultancy agreements, agency worker service agreements and severance agreements.
- Gender pay gap audits, reporting obligations and gender pay gap analysis and mitigation.
- Employment health and safety matters.
- European Works Councils.
- Fitness and Probity and Senior Executive Accountability Regime.
- Whistleblowing.
- Work permits.
- Bullying, harassment and victimisation claims.
- Protective leave.
- Discrimination, equality and equal status law.
- Atypical working arrangements.
- Stress at work.
- Compliance with working time models.
- Internal disciplinary and grievance procedures and investigations.
- Redundancy and workforce restructuring.
- Post-termination restrictive covenants.
- Industrial relations.
- Transfer of undertakings (TUPE).
- Employment aspects of mergers and acquisitions.
- Contentious matters before the courts and tribunals.
- Mediation and other dispute resolution mechanisms.
- Pay transparency and equal pay audits.
- Employment law implications of the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
- Hybrid / flexible / remote working requests.
- General pensions law.
- Reconstruction/merger of pension arrangements.
- Establishment of pension schemes.
- Revenue approval.
- Pension aspects of mergers and acquisitions.
- Benefit restructuring and liability management exercises.
- Winding up of schemes.
- Trusteeship.
- Fiduciary responsibilities.
- Contentious pensions matters and pensions litigation.
- Cross-border transfers.
- Regulatory compliance.
Pensions and Employee Benefits: The European Legal 500 2024