The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD has today announced the commencement of the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Act 2022.
The Tánaiste said:
“This new law will mean that those that were made redundant to protect public health during the pandemic will not be out of pocket for the period they were laid off. The Government is providing a special payment of up to €2,268 tax-free to bridge the gap in their redundancy entitlements.
“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. This Act provides the best outcome for both employers and employees.
“Redundancy rights for people who were placed on lay-off during the pandemic is one of the five new worker rights I committed to introducing this year. The commencement of this Act fulfils this promise.”
Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys TD said:
“I welcome the announcement of the commencement of this new scheme, which will be administered by my Department.
“This scheme was developed in order to ensure individuals impacted by being laid off during the Pandemic will not lose out on their entitlements.
“The new system is employer-led. This means that, for the majority of eligible employees, their employer, liquidator or relevant officer will apply for this payment on their behalf. Applications can be made online via the Welfare Partners website.”
Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English TD said:
“Many sectors are rebounding since the lifting of Covid restrictions which is a real tribute to the resilience of Irish businesses and their workers. While we have good reason to be optimistic, a uniform and smooth recovery is not guaranteed and, regrettably, some redundancies will arise.
“This new payment will be made by the State and is in addition to normal statutory redundancy. The payment ensures employees who were placed on temporary lay-off over the last two years due to essential Covid-related restrictions and who are made redundant are not disadvantaged.
“In recognition of the fact that these periods of lay-off were due to State restrictions, the Government has agreed that the State should meet these costs.
“I am pleased that the new payment will cover all periods of lay-off that were caused by the necessary restrictions introduced by Government to protect public health, that is any lay-offs from 13 March 2020 to 31 January 2022.”
The scheme is now open for applications and will operate alongside the existing Redundancy & Insolvency schemes currently administered by the Department of Social Protection. Further information on the payment is available at www.gov.ie/crlp.
ENDS.
Notes for Editors:
The Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Act 2022 is now commenced.
The Act provides for the Covid-related Lay-off Payment. The Covid-19 Related Lay-off payment is paid by the State to cover periods of lay-off between 13 March 2020 and 31 January 2022 caused by essential Covid-19 related restrictions.
Under statutory redundancy rules, periods spent on lay-off within the final three years of an employee’s service do not count as reckonable service for the purposes of statutory redundancy payments. The Act ensures that employees who are made redundant, are eligible for a statutory redundancy payment and were placed on lay-off due to Covid-19 restrictions are not disadvantaged in the calculation of their redundancy entitlements.
The amount an eligible worker will receive will depend on the length of time they were placed on lay-off due to COVID-19 before the date they were made redundant. The calculation for the payment is based on existing statutory redundancy rules. The maximum to which any employee will be entitled is €2,268, if they earned €600 or more a week and were laid off due to Covid-19 restrictions for the full period from 13 March 2020 to 31 January 2022.
Ends.
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