The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following in Part III after section 16:

"Protection of employees from penalisation.

16A.

(1) An employer shall not penalise an employee for proposing to exercise or having exercised his or her entitlement to parental leave or force majeure leave.

(2) Penalisation of an employee includes -

(a) dismissal of the employee,

(b) unfair treatment of the employee, including selection for redundancy, and

(c) an unfavourable change in the conditions of employment of the employee.

(3) If a penalisation of an employee, in contravention of subsection (1), constitutes a dismissal of the employee, as referred to in subsection (2)(a), the employee may institute proceedings under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2005 in respect of that dismissal and such dismissal may not be referred to a rights commissioner under Part IV.

(4) An employee who is entitled to return to work in the employment concerned in accordance with section 15 but is not permitted by his or her employer to do so -