A plan to strengthen redundancy legislation was due to be brought to Cabinet today by Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney.
The memo includes measures such as ensuring that all collective redundancies will be subject to a 30-day notification period before they take effect, including where the employer is insolvent.
It also envisages allowing employees to seek redress from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) where their employer makes them redundant before the 30-day notification period finishes - something which will apply to all collective redundancies, not just those precipitated by insolvency.
It seeks to change legislation to explicitly providing that the employer's obligations must also be complied with by a liquidator or similar appointee, where they are managing the collective redundancy process in an insolvency situation.
This means the WRC could prosecute if a liquidator or similar appointee failed to comply with their duties under the act.
The memo also seeks to improve the quality and circulation of information to workers as creditors to ensure they have access, within a reasonable period, to the company's Statement of Affairs.
This is filed with the court and ensures the provisional liquidator informs them of their appointment, explains the liquidation process and invites them to provide relevant information.
Meanwhile Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said it relates to redundancies where a company becomes insolvent.
"We have seen a few famous cases, Debenhams was one, Clerys for example. It is not going to deal with all the issues that arose then but it is designed to deal with some of issues that arose.
"So, it is particularly linked to companies where people become redundant as a result of the company failing."
Additional reporting Brian O'Donovan
