Minimum Notice Period Calculator (Ireland)

Find the statutory minimum notice your employer must give you — or you must give — from your length of service, with the notice end date, pay in lieu and what a contract clause can and cannot change.

Calculator

EXAMPLE at least 4 weeks' notice that the example employer must give (7 years of service) — swap in your own dates below.

Minimum notice is the shortest warning the law allows before a job ends — the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 sets a floor that grows with your service, and a contract can only add to it, never cut below it. Pay in lieu of notice means being paid for the notice period instead of working it.

The situation

The notice your employer must give you rises with your length of service.

Part-time or only a few hours a week? Since 20 December 2001 the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (section 8) applies the Minimum Notice Acts to part-time employees in the same way as to full-time employees, so the 1973 Act's exclusion of jobs under eighteen hours a week no longer keeps a part-time worker outside the bands.

The Act does not cover close family of the employer who are part of the employer's household and work in a private dwellinghouse or farm where both of them live, members of the Permanent Defence Forces (other than a temporary member of the Army Nursing Service), members of An Garda Síochána, and seafarers employed under an employment agreement under Part II or Part IV of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894. Every other employee is covered once the service threshold is met.

Your service

Started 04/03/2019.

Notice given 01/09/2026 — 7 years of continuous service (391 weeks).

weeks

Look for a "notice" or "termination" clause. Leave blank if there is none — the statutory minimum applies.

€ / week

Only used to price the notice period if it is paid instead of worked.

EXAMPLEExample minimum notice the employer must give — swap in your own dates in the form

4 weeks statutory minimum

7 years of continuous service (04/03/2019 to 01/09/2026) falls in the "5 to under 10 years" band — 4 weeks by law. Continuous service is the unbroken time with the same employer; spells of lay-off, sickness, injury or agreed leave still count.

Notice given on 01/09/2026 runs to 29/09/2026 (4 weeks). The example employer can pay the employee for that period instead of having it worked.

Next band: from 04/03/2029 (10-year anniversary of the first day) notice given on or after that date rises to 6 weeks — worth knowing if the leaving date is still being negotiated.

Enter your own dates in the form and this section will show what to check the figure against.

How notice grows with service

The statutory minimum an employer must give, by length of continuous service:

Continuous serviceEmployer's minimum notice
Under 13 weeksAct does not apply
13 weeks to under 2 years1 week
2 to under 5 years2 weeks
5 to under 10 years — example4 weeks
10 to under 15 years6 weeks
15 years or more8 weeks

"Two years or more, but less than five" — each band starts on the anniversary and runs up to the day before the next one. Absences for lay-off, sickness, injury or agreed leave of up to 26 weeks still count as service.

Assumptions and things to know
  • "Probation" is not the test. The Act switches on after 13 weeks of continuous service — a six-month probation clause does not remove the statutory notice once those weeks are served.
  • The statutory period is a floor: a contract can give more notice, never less. A clause promising less is read as if it said the statutory figure.
  • Either side can waive notice or accept pay in lieu. An employee who accepts pay in lieu and is then made redundant is treated, for the redundancy rules, as leaving on the day the notice WOULD have expired — see the redundancy calculator.
  • The Act does not stop either side ending the contract WITHOUT notice for the other's misconduct. What counts as misconduct is decided case by case — this calculator does not judge it.
  • Also outside the Act: close family of the employer who are part of the employer's household and work in a private dwellinghouse or farm where both of them live, members of the Permanent Defence Forces (other than a temporary member of the Army Nursing Service), members of An Garda Síochána, and seafarers employed under an employment agreement under Part II or Part IV of the Merchant Shipping Act 1894. Answering the exclusion question in the form switches this page to the not-covered result.
  • Pay in lieu here is simply weeks × normal weekly pay before tax. During a worked notice period normal pay continues, including for weeks the employee is ready to work but is given none.

Estimates only — not professional advice.

In plain terms: minimum notice is the shortest warning the law allows before a job ends. After 13 weeks of continuous service the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 sets a floor that rises with your length of service ( 1 week up to 8 weeks); an employee owes a flat 1 week. A contract can add to those periods but never cut below them, and either side can agree to pay for the notice period instead of working it.

How this calculator works

Continuous service is counted from your first day to the day the notice is given — whole weeks for the 13-week threshold and complete years by anniversary for the bands ( under 2 years: 1 week; 2 to under 5 years: 2 weeks; 5 to under 10 years: 4 weeks; 10 to under 15 years: 6 weeks; 15 years or more: 8 weeks ). An employee owes 1 week whatever the service. If the contract states a longer period, the longer period applies; a shorter one is read as the statutory figure. Since 20 December 2001 the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (section 8) applies the Minimum Notice Acts to part-time employees in the same way as to full-time employees, so the 1973 Act's exclusion of jobs under eighteen hours a week no longer keeps a part-time worker outside the bands. Pay in lieu is priced as weeks × normal weekly pay before tax. Every band and threshold is read from a versioned data file quoting the revised Act, cross-checked against the Workplace Relations Commission's table. One honesty note: the Act has no published numeric worked example, so the test cases guarding this engine are constructed from the statute's own wording — they are checked against the text of the Act, not against an official printed answer.

Guides for this calculator

Sources

Key official sources for the figures on this page — the Sources page lists every statutory value with its effective and retrieval dates.

Minimum notice by length of service — Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973, section 4(2) (Law Reform Commission revised Act) — Section 4(2): '(a) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for less than two years, one week, (b) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for two years or more, but less than five years, two weeks, (c) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for five years or more, but less than ten years, four weeks, (d) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for ten years or more, but less than fifteen years, six weeks, (e) if the employee has been in the continuous service of his employer for fifteen years or more, eight weeks.' Revised Act — the consolidated text in force on the retrieval date below (rule current as of that date). Retrieved .
The thirteen-week threshold and the employee's one week — sections 4(1) and 6 — Section 4(1): 'An employer shall, in order to terminate the contract of employment of an employee who has been in his continuous service for a period of thirteen weeks or more, give to that employee a minimum period of notice calculated in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2) of this section.' Section 6: 'An employer shall, subject to the right of an employee to give counter-notice under section 10 of the Act of 1967 or to give notice of intention to claim redundancy payment in respect of lay-off or short-time under section 12 of that Act, be entitled to not less than one week's notice from an employee who has been in his continuous employment for thirteen weeks or more of that employee's intention to terminate his contract of employment.' Revised Act — the consolidated text in force on the retrieval date below (rule current as of that date). Retrieved .
A contract cannot go below the Act — section 4(5) — Section 4(5): 'Any provision in a contract of employment, whether made before or after the commencement of this Act, which provides for a period of notice which is less than the period of notice specified in subsection (2) of this section, shall have effect as if that contract provided for a period of notice in accordance with this section.' Revised Act — the consolidated text in force on the retrieval date below (rule current as of that date). Retrieved .
Waiver, pay in lieu and misconduct — sections 7 and 8 — Section 7: '(1) Nothing in this Act shall operate to prevent an employee or an employer from waiving his right to notice on any occasion or from accepting payment in lieu of notice. (2) In any case where an employee accepts payment in lieu of notice, the date of termination of that person's employment shall, for the purposes of the Act of 1967, be deemed to be the date on which notice, if given, would have expired.' Section 8: 'Nothing in this Act shall affect the right of any employer or employee to terminate a contract of employment without notice because of misconduct by the other party.' Revised Act — the consolidated text in force on the retrieval date below (rule current as of that date). Retrieved .
Part-time employees are covered in the same way — Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001, section 8 (Law Reform Commission revised Act) — Section 8: 'Each relevant enactment shall apply to a part-time employee in the same manner, and subject to the like exceptions not inconsistent with this section, as it applies, other than by virtue of this Act, to an employee to whom that enactment relates.' — and the revised 1973 Act's annotation under section 3: 'C6 The limitation on the application of this Act imposed by subs. (1)(a) is restricted (20.12.2001) by Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (45/2001), s. 8, S.I. No. 636 of 2001.' Effective from . Retrieved .
The 1973 text's under-eighteen-hours exclusion, restricted since 20 December 2001 by the 2001 Act above — section 3(1)(a) — Section 3(1)(a): 'This Act shall not apply to— (a) employment of an employee who is normally expected to work for the same employer for less than eighteen hours in a week,' Revised Act — the consolidated text in force on the retrieval date below (rule current as of that date). Retrieved .
Workplace Relations Commission — 'Minimum Notice' (cross-check) — 'Required Notice' table — Thirteen weeks to two years — One week; Two to five years — Two weeks; Five to ten years — Four weeks; Ten to fifteen years — Six weeks; More than fifteen years — Eight weeks; If the employer does not require the employee to work out any part of their notice, the employer is obliged to pay the employee for that period. No single effective date on the source page; treatment current as of the retrieval date below. Retrieved .
Time limit for a WRC complaint — Workplace Relations Act 2015, section 41(6) and (8) (Law Reform Commission revised Act) — Section 41: '(6) Subject to subsection (8), an adjudication officer shall not entertain a complaint referred to him or her under this section if it has been presented to the Director General after the expiration of the period of 6 months beginning on the date of the contravention to which the complaint relates. (8) An adjudication officer may entertain a complaint or dispute to which this section applies presented or referred to the Director General after the expiration of the period referred to in subsection (6) or (7) (but not later than 6 months after such expiration), as the case may be, if he or she is satisfied that the failure to present the complaint or refer the dispute within that period was due to reasonable cause.' Revised Act — the consolidated text in force on the retrieval date below (rule current as of that date). Retrieved .