Expertise

Geraldine is a partner in the Employment, Pensions and Benefits Group. She provides strategic, practical and commercially focussed advice to international and domestic clients on all aspects of employment law. Her practice spans a variety of sectors, including technology, financial services and pharmaceuticals.

Geraldine has extensive experience advising in relation to the management of employees on a day to day basis, including the drafting and implementation of contractual documentation and employment policies and procedures, as well as guiding employers through crisis management issues in the context of workplace investigations, misconduct allegations, grievances, bullying, harassment, and performance management procedures.

Geraldine has particular expertise in advising clients on senior executive appointments and terminations, particularly in regulated industries, as well as case managing employment injunctions and defending claims before the Workplace Relations Commission, the Circuit Court and the High Court.

She provides pragmatic advice on the employment law aspects of corporate restructurings, outsourcings, and individual and collective redundancy situations.

Geraldine worked with Matheson’s US client base from the firm’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices for six months in 2017 / 18. As a result, Geraldine has a deep understanding of the key distinctions between employment law in Ireland as compared with other jurisdictions.

She frequently provides bespoke employment law workshops to clients. She is a regular speaker at conferences and a tutor at the Law Society’s professional practice course for trainee solicitors. She also regularly publishes articles on employment law matters. Topics on which she has recently written and spoken on include: “Fair Procedures and the Right to Cross Examination during Workplace Investigations”, “US Employers in Ireland: Key Distinctions Between the Employment Law Landscape in the US and Ireland”, “Recent Developments in Employment Injunctions”, “Common Pitfalls and Developing Trends in Employment Law in Ireland’, “Important Ruling Extends the WRC’s Powers to Disregard National Law that is Contrary to EU Law”, and various articles on Ireland’s workplace relations system.

Geraldine is an active committee member of the Employment Law Association of Ireland (ELAI) and the Law Society of Ireland’s Employment and Equality Law Committee. She is also an active member of the American Bar Association’s International Labor and Employment Law section and the European Employment Law Association of Ireland. Geraldine originally qualified as a Chartered Tax Adviser.

Experience Highlights

Strategic advice to a financial institution in relation to a restructuring of its senior leadership team in Ireland, having regard to complex financial regulatory issues.
Representing a financial institution in relation to a creditor business on the successful defence of multiple related claims before the Labour Court under the transfer of undertakings legislation, resulting in a highly publicised decision clarifying the law in favour of transferor employers in Ireland.
Advising an international manufacturing corporation on highly sensitive employment and industrial relations issues in relation to a restructuring of its workforce and the implementation of collective redundancies.
Advising a leading financial services provider on establishing operations in Ireland as part of its post-Brexit strategy from an employment law perspective, including advice in relation to the application of the cross border merger regulations, relocation of employees, restructuring of its senior management team and complex issues arising under the transfer of undertakings regulations.
Advising employers on gender pay gap audits and preparations for proposed mandatory gender pay gap reporting obligations in Ireland.
Advising a technology company in relation to the successful resolution of discrimination and victimisation claims.
Representing clients on the defence of claims before the employment fora regarding the misclassification of workers and atypical working arrangements.
Advising numerous international companies on the establishment of operations in Ireland, including advice on employee compensation and benefits, immigration issues, compliance and ongoing management issues.
Advising on a number of high value private equity investments and acquisitions from an employment law perspective, including advising a leading financial institution on employment issues arising in the context of an acquisition, which involved the negotiation of detailed employment indemnities and warranties.

Accolades

“Bryan Dunne and Geraldine Carr have provided informative, timely updates on navigating the pitfalls/challenges presented by the pandemic in the workplace. These updates have supported me in enabling the business to respond to these challenges in an informed and agile way.”
The Legal 500 2022

"She is just fantastic, practical, and a proactive lawyer."
Chambers Europe 2022

"Geraldine Carr is exceptional. She is so responsive and has been a great resource to our legal and people operations team as we have grown in EMEA over the last year".
The Legal 500 2021

Geraldine Carr "gives me the confidence that when we are dealing with an employment issue we will be able to work through it and will incur limited risk".
Chambers Europe 2021

Geraldine Carr is recommended.
European Legal 500 2020

Geraldine Carr is named a next generation partner.
European Legal 500 2020

Geraldine Carr is "first class".
European Legal 500 2020

Geraldine is "very highly regarded by clients for her very pleasant manner" .
Chambers Europe 2020

Geraldine Carr is "very experienced".
European Legal 500 2019

Geraldine Carr is recommended.
European Legal 500 2019

Geraldine Carr is "technically strong, commercial and highly personable".
Chambers Europe 2019

Geraldine Carr has "very strong judgment and also strong negotiation skills when dealing with opposing counsel on our behalf."
Chambers Europe 2019

Geraldine Carr is recommended.
European Legal 500 2018

Education

University of Limerick (Bachelor of Arts in Law and Accounting)

University College Cork (Master of Laws, LL.M)

Admitted as a solicitor in Ireland

Law Society of Ireland (Diploma in Employment Law)

Irish Taxation Institute (Chartered Tax Adviser qualification)

Matheson: Remote working – COVID-19 and Beyond Survey Results

Sep 7, 2020, 23:55 PM

As we learn to accept and adapt to the fact that remote working is becoming a longer-term reality for businesses, we recently hosted a webinar attended by a broad cross sectoral representation during which attendees had the opportunity to participate in a quick pulse survey for their views on the implications of the ongoing remote working environment in their organisations.

Title : Matheson: Remote working – COVID-19 and Beyond Survey Results

Filter services i ds : aca9820d-d1f8-4da1-9d07-0020548ab869;

Engagement Time : 5

Insight Type : Article

Insight Date : Jul 21, 2020, 12:10 PM

In our webinar, we discussed the practical considerations that employers need to bear in mind in light of the changed workplace. This conversation was extremely topical and valuable for participants, as the results from our poll indicate that the majority of businesses regard remote working as a continuing workplace reality, with 66% intending to offer long term working from home as a permanent option for employees. This complements recent research by NUI Galway, in which 83% of surveyed respondents confirmed that they wish to continue working remotely after the current crisis abates, suggesting that employers and employees are largely aligned in their outlook on the continued practice of remote working.

With over half of the participants in our webinar poll reporting that productivity has stayed the same and 21% reporting an increase in productivity, it appears that the business case for remote working is clear.

What may be less clear is how businesses are going to set their employees up for longer-term or even permanent remote working. The results of our poll regarding what has been provided by way of remote working aids and supports to employees may come as a surprise. 75% of our webinar poll said they had not provided a work from home allowance, a meals allowance or a wellness allowance nor had they paid for office equipment. Only 14% confirmed that they had paid for office equipment to facilitate working from home.

Another interesting response to our poll relates to how often self-certified health and safety questionnaires are conducted in order to determine if an employee’s remote workplace is suitable from a health and safety perspective. Only 37% of the webinar poll participants have conducted such a survey, despite such an assessment being a key part of discharging an employer’s statutory duty to provide a safe place of work, and we suggest this is perhaps due to the abrupt manner with which the majority of employers were forced to transition their workforce to a remote workforce. In time, we would anticipate that assessments of remote work spaces will become commonplace, with both self-certification by employees and virtual assessments by experts (where warranted) becoming a regular part of an employee’s remote workplace setup.

This article was authored by Geraldine Carr and Eimear Boyle.