Employers should note that as of 30 September the suspension of the right of employees to claim redundancy during lay off will be lifted.
Lay off & Redundancy
Prior to March 2020, employees placed on lay off for in excess of four consecutive weeks or for six weeks in the previous 13 weeks had a right to serve a notice on their employer claiming a right to be made redundant and consequently claim a redundancy lump sum payment. This rule was suspended in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic so that employees on lay off could not claim a right to be made redundant. This was designed to avoid the possibility of a flood of redundancy pay-outs during the pandemic and ultimately protect the viability of many businesses. This suspension will be lifted with effect from 30 September 2021.
This means that employees who are still on lay off when the suspension is lifted will be able to serve written notice on their employer claiming redundancy.
Note: Where an employee claims redundancy in this manner they lose any right to notice, or payment in lieu of notice, from their employer.
Counter Notice
An employer who has received a notice from an employee and believes that they will have work for the employee can, within 7 days, serve a counter notice on the employee where they believe that they will have work for that employee within 4 weeks of the notice and that this work will last for 13 weeks without lay off.
Reckonable Service
In the ordinary course any period of lay off was not counted as "reckonable service" when calculating an employee's redundancy lump sum payment. This meant that employees who have been on lay off since the beginning of the pandemic could lose out on 18 months reckonable service. To address this, the Government announced on 21 September 2021 that a special payment of up €1,860 would be paid to employees who have lost out on reckonable service while temporarily laid off during the pandemic and subsequently made redundant.
For more information please contact Paul Gough or any member of the employment team.
About the author
Paul Gough
About Paul
Paul specialises in employment law and advises employers and employees on all aspects of the employment relationship, contentious and non-contentious. He has represented a wide range of clients, including financial institutions, international companies and public bodies in a diverse range of employment related issues before the WRC, including unfair dismissal claims, equality related disputes, claims arising under the Organisation of Working Time Act, TUPE and claims under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act.