QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS SECTION:

• Can my employee claim redundancy due to a temporary layoff?
• Is the employee eligible for a redundancy payment?
• The employee claiming redundancy works part time. Are they still entitled to claim?
• Paying a redundancy claim will cause me to have to close my business permanently. Are there any supports available to me?
• We have been using the temporary wage subsidy scheme but now realise we need to make some employees redundant. How do we do this?
• I have an employee who works part time, and was previously availing of job seekers benefit for the days they did not work. Can they continue to avail of this if i use the temporary wage subsidy scheme?
• I need to make some roles redundant. How do I go about this?
• I will need to make multiple employees redundant, will this be classified as a collective redundancy?
• What additional obligations are there for a collective redundancy?

Can my employee claim redundancy due to a temporary layoff?

Ordinarily after 4 consecutive weeks or 6 weeks in a 13 week period of temporary layoff, an employee can return part B of the RP9 form, claiming it is now a redundancy situation.

Due to the new Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Bill 2020, as signed by the president on March 27^th and expected to be introduced to the statute book shortly, this entitlement is not applicable for the emergency period, and an employee cannot make a redundancy claim due to temporary layoff between 13^th March 2020 and the 31^st March 2021

Should an employer opt to close their business permanently during this period normal redundancy procedures will apply.

Is the employee eligible for a redundancy payment?

To be eligible for a redundancy payment the employee must be:

• Aged 16 or over. (Since 8 May 2007 there is no upper age limit of 66.)
• In employment that is insurable under the Social Welfare Acts. Full-time employees under the age of 66 must be paying Class A PRSI. (This insurability requirement does not apply to part-time workers – see below.)
• Worked continuously for the employer for at least 104 weeks over the age of 16.

In deciding if the employee has had continuous service for 104 weeks you must note that the following are not classed as breaks in service:

• maternity leave, paternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave or carer’s leave
• Absence through illness, agreed absence, holidays or lay off
• dismissal due to redundancy before reaching 104 weeks’ service and then taken back by the employer within 26 weeks of that dismissal
• re-employed within 4 weeks of dismissal by an associate company of the previous employer
• voluntarily transfer to another employer and it is agreed that the continuity of service will not be broken.
• placed back in employment under the unfair dismissals legislation
• on strike or locked out of employment
• There has been a transfer of the business to a new owner (TUPE Transfer)

The employee claiming redundancy works part time. Are they still entitled to claim?

The Redundancy Payments Act 2003 amended the insurability requirements for redundancy to ensure the rights of part-time workers to statutory redundancy. This amendment brings them into line with the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 which provides that part-time employees cannot be treated in a less favourable manner than comparable full-time employees in relation to conditions of employment.

It means that the right of certain part-time workers (such as those in casual employment or in employment of inconsiderable extent) to statutory redundancy is recognised. They must still meet the requirement for 2 years’ continuous service as described above.

Paying a redundancy claim will cause me to have to close my business permanently. Are there any supports available to me?

An employer can make a claim to the Department of Social Protection, and should they prove that if they were to pay the claim more job losses would result directly the Department can agree to make the lump sum payments directly to the employees. They will then invoice the employer for the amount paid. Documentary evidence of the company’s inability to pay must be submitted with the claim.

We have been using the temporary wage subsidy scheme but now realise we need to make some employees redundant. How do we do this?

The temporary wage subsidy scheme is intended to support employees where the employer intends to keep the employee on the payroll. If redundancy is confirmed, the employee must be taken off the TWSS immediately, and paid in full by the company for any confirmed notice period.

I have an employee who works part time, and was previously availing of job seekers benefit for the days they did not work. Can they continue to avail of this if i use the temporary wage subsidy scheme?

The current guidance from Revenue does not state that this benefit can be claimed while on the TWSS. Any employee who was previously in receipt of this should contact their DEASP claims manager to discuss their situation. Those in receipt of Family Income Support can continue to receive this if their employer opts to use the TWSS.

I need to make some roles redundant. How do I go about this?

ISME’s guide to redundancy procedures is available here.

The most important thing for an employer to note is that it is the role, and not the person, that is being made redundant. In selecting an employee for redundancy, an employer should apply selection criteria that are reasonable and are applied in a fair manner.

As with any dismissal, an employer must act reasonably in a redundancy situation. There is a requirement for consultation with the employee before the decision is made. In addition, an employer should consider all options including possible alternatives.

I will need to make multiple employees redundant, will this be classified as a collective redundancy?

Collective redundancy’ is the making redundant within a period of 30 consecutive days, of a minimum number of employees, that minimum varying with the normal size of the establishment’s workforce. The relevant minimum number of proposed redundancies relative to the size of the overall workforce is as follows:

• 5 employees in an establishment employing 21-49 employees
• 10 employees in an establishment normally employing 50-99 employees
• 10% of employees in an establishment normally employing 100-299 employees, or
• 30 employees in an establishment normally employing 300 or more employees

What additional obligations are there for a collective redundancy?

The Protection of Employment Acts, 1977 – 2014 make it mandatory for employers proposing a collective redundancy:

• to engage in an information and consultation process with employees’ representatives and
• to notify the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection of the proposed collective redundancy.

An employer is prohibited from issuing any notice of redundancy during the mandatory employee information and consultation period (required by the l977 Act) and until 30 days have elapsed from the date on which the Minister has been notified.

Section 9 of the 1977 Act requires employers to engage in a consultation process with the relevant employee representatives, ‘with a view to reaching an agreement’.  The employer’s obligation in this regard does not extend beyond giving the representatives reasonable opportunity to revert with their proposals having had an opportunity to consider the employer’s initial proposals.

‘Employees’ Representatives’ are defined as:

• A trade union, staff association or excepted body with which it has been the practice of the employer to conduct collective bargaining negotiations, or
• In the absence of such a trade union, staff association or excepted body, a person or persons chosen (under an arrangement put in place by the employer) by such employees from amongst their number to represent them in negotiations with the employer.

In the course of the information and consultation process, the employer is expected to provide the following information in writing to the employees’ representatives:

1. Reasons for the proposed redundancies
2. Number, and description or categories, of employees whom it is proposed to make redundant
3. Number, and description or categories, of employees normally employed
4. The period over which it is proposed to implement the redundancies
5. The criteria for the selection of workers to be made redundant
6. If there is to be a payment other than the statutory redundancy payment, the method of calculating such payment must be set out.

No Individual notice of redundancy may issue until at least 30 days after notification of the proposed redundancy has been received by the Minister. Notification should be sent by registered post or by hand. Notification should include the following:

• Name/address of the employer, stating whether employer is a company, partnership or sole trader
• Address of the establishment where the collective redundancies are proposed
• Total number of persons normally employed there
• The number/categories of employees whom it is proposed to make redundant
• The period over which it is proposed to implement the collective redundancies
• The reasons for the proposed collective redundancies
• Names/addresses of the trade unions/staff associations representing employees affected by the proposed redundancies
• Details of the consultations with each trade union (commencement date; progress made etc.)