Workers who have lost out on reckonable service while they were on lay-off due to Covid-19 restrictions, and have subsequently been made redundant, will be able get a special payment of up to a maximum payment of €1,860 tax-free to bridge the gap in their redundancy entitlements.
This comes as the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Bill was published today.
A worker does not have to have been in receipt of any form of State payment, such as the PUP or jobseekers, during the lay-off period, although they could have been.
The criteria for the payment are simply that the person qualifies for redundancy in the usual way and was laid off because of Covid restrictions during the emergency period.
"Reckonable service" is the service that is taken into account when calculating a redundancy lump sum payment. In general, a worker is entitled to two weeks' pay per year of service, plus an additional week, capped at €600 weekly pay.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment said the bill will make sure that people made redundant are not out of pocket because of the period during which they were placed on lay-off due to Covid-19 restrictions.
"The Government will step in and provide a special payment of up to a maximum of €1,860 tax-free to compensate for a person's break in service due to necessary closures to protect public health," Leo Varadkar said.
He said the Government have aimed to save as many jobs and businesses as possible during the Covid pandemic.
Part of that was suspending an employee's right to trigger redundancy, to ensure already struggling businesses were not overwhelmed with costs.
"That provision has now been lifted, and employees can if they wish, seek redundancy if they have been laid off. We want to make sure workers don't lose out on payments and on the other hand, business owners aren’t faced with a flood of additional redundancy costs, just when they’re trying to get back on their feet," Mr Varadkar said.
"This Bill provides the best outcome for both employers and their employees," he added
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said that even with the improved economic and employment outlook, some workers will lose jobs in the coming period.
"This Bill will ensure that redundancy payments are not adversely affected by periods of time laid off due to Covid public health restrictions, when workers' ability to trigger redundancy was suspended," Ms Humphreys said.
"This new scheme, which will potentially add up to €1,860 to a worker's redundancy payment, will be administered by my Department. In addition, Government’s employment services strategy Pathways to Work provides a range of employment supports, training and re-skilling opportunities for people who wish to find new job opportunities post-Covid," she added.
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English said that as society and the economy emerge from the pandemic, this Bill is an important measure to have in place to provide certainty to some of those workers who may become redundant and will ensure they do not face an undue penalty in such a redundancy situation.
