Tánaiste announces Commencement of Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Act 2022

The commencement of the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Act 2022 was announced on Tuesday by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD.

The Act provides for the Covid-related Lay-off Payment, which 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.

‘THE BEST OUTCOME’

“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.”

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