S.I. No. 4/1968 - Redundancy (Collection of Contributions) Regulations, 1968.

S.I. No. 4 of 1968.

REDUNDANCY (COLLECTION OF CONTRIBUTIONS) REGULATIONS, 1968.

I, P. S. Ó h-IRIGHILE, Minister for Labour, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 28 (5), 33 (1), 33 (2), 35 (1) and 58 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 (No. 21 of 1967), hereby make the following Regulations :

1 Citation.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Redundancy (Collection of Contributions) Regulations, 1968.

2 Definitions.

2. In these Regulations

"the Act" means the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 ;

"eligible", in relation to an employee, means an employee to whom, by virtue of section 4 of the Act or an order thereunder, tthe Act applies;

"the Minister" means the Minister for Labour;

"local office" means an employment exchange under the Labour Exchanges Act, 1909, or other place appointed by the Minister as a local office for the purposes of the Acts.

3 Issue of redundancy cards.

3. (1) Every person to whom the Act applies and who has not a current redundancy card in his possession shall, on furnishing such information as the Minister may require, obtain a redundancy card free of charge from a local office or in such other manner as the Minister may direct.

(2) A person who becomes an eligible employee shall be deemed to have complied with subparagraph (1) on the issue of a redundancy card by a local office direct to his employer in response to an application for such a card duly made by such person.

(3) On the return in accordance with these Regulations to a local office of a redundancy card of an eligible employee, a new card shall, where necessary, be issued free of charge in respect of the employee to the person who returned the card.

4 Custody of redundancy cards.

4. (1) An eligible employee, on his obtaining or on the return to him of a redundancy card in accordance with these Regulations, shall be responsible for its custody until it is delivered to an employer, a local office or a duly authorised officer of the Minister or is otherwise disposed of in accordance with these Regulations.

(2) Subject to this paragraph—

(a) an employer of an eligible employee shall at the relevant time obtain from the eligible employee a redundancy card then current, and

(b) an eligible employee shall at the relevant time deliver or cause to be delivered his current redundancy card to his employer.

(3) Where the redundancy card of an eligible employee is at the time of his entry into employment lodged at a local office, the employer shall be deemed to have complied with subparagraph (2) if he obtains from the eligible employee at the relevant time the receipt for the card issued by the local office and sends the receipt to the local office for the purpose of obtaining the card.

(4) An employer and an eligible employee shall be deemed to have complied with this paragraph on the issue of a redundancy card by a local office direct to the employer in response to an application for a redundancy card duly made by the eligible employee.

(5) An employer, on obtaining a redundancy card, shall become responsible for the custody thereof so long as the employment continues, or until it is returned to the eligible employee, delivered to a local office, retained by a duly authorised officer of the Minister, or otherwise disposed of in accordance with these Regulations.

(6) The person for the time being responsible for the custody of a redundancy card under these Regulations or any person who otherwise has possession or control of a redundancy card shall when it is so demanded by a duly authorised officer of the Minister—

(a) if the demand is made orally and the card is in the possession or under the control of the person at the place or premises where the demand is made, produce the card and deliver it to the officer forthwith,

(b) If the demand is made in writing addressed to the person at the address at which he ordinarily resides or carries on business, deliver the card to the officer by hand or by registered post within the time specified by the officer, not being less than six days from the date of the demand.

(7) Where a demand under subparagraph (6) is made to an employer, it may refer to the card of the eligible employee named in the demand or to the cards of all the eligible employees in the employment of the employer on the date on which the demand is received by the employer and the employer shall comply with the demand accordingly.

(8) If an employer has not in his possession or control a redundancy card for an eligible employee who has attained the age of 16 years and who is employed by him on the date of receipt of a demand under subparagraph 6 (b), he shall apply forthwith to a local office for a redundancy card for the employee and the provisions of that subparagraph shall apply to such card when received by him and the date of receipt of the card shall be deemed to be the date of the demand.

(9) Where a demand under subparagraph (6) is sent by post, it shall be deemed to have been received by the person to whom it is addressed on the date on which it would normally be received in the ordinary course of post unless the contrary is proved.

(10) Where a redundancy card is delivered to a duly authorised officer of the Minister in accordance with this paragraph, he may, if he thinks fit, retain it and in this event he shall give a receipt for the card to the person who delivered it to him.

(11) In this paragraph "the relevant time" means the day on which a person becomes an eligible employee in the employment of the employer concerned.

5 Inspection by eligible employee of redundancy card in employer's custody.

5. (1) Subject to this paragraph, an employer shall give to an eligible employee who desires to inspect his redundancy card while it is in the custody of the employer a reasonable opportunity of so doing, either within or immediately before or after working hours.

(2) An eligible employee shall be entitled by virtue of this paragraph to inspect his redundancy card not more than once in any calendar month and then only at such time as may be fixed by his employer for the purpose.

6 Return of redundancy cards.

6. (1) On the termination of employment of an eligible employee, the employer shall forthwith return the redundancy card to him and, where redundancy contributions otherwise cease to be payable in respect of an employee, the employer shall forthwith return the redundancy card to a local office.

(2) An eligible employee shall, on the termination of his employment, apply to the employer for the return of his redundancy card and on receiving the card shall give a receipt to the employer if requested to do so.

(3) An employer shall comply with any directions which may be given by the Minister as to the return to an eligible employee of his redundancy card or the delivery of the card to the Minister at any time other than on the termination of the employment.

(4) An eligible employee, to whom a redundancy card is returned under subparagraphs (1) to (3), shall, if he is unemployed, or if for any other reason redundancy contributions cease to be payable in respect of him, forthwith deliver the card to a local office to be retained there until such contributions again become, or are about to become, payable in respect of him.

(5) Notwithstanding subparagraph (4), an eligible employee to whom a redundancy card is returned in accordance with this paragraph shall surrender the card as directed by the Minister.

(6) An employer for the time being responsible under these Regulations for the custody of a redundancy card shall, within six days of the expiration of the period of currency of the card or such longer period as the Minister may in any particular case allow, return the card to a local office by hand or by registered post with a statement setting out the name and insurance number of the eligible employee to whom the card refers.

7 Disposal of redundancy card on death of eligible employee.

7. On the death of an eligible employee, the employer, if the redundancy card is then in his custody, or any other person having possession or thereafter obtaining possession of the card, shall forthwith deliver it to a local office.

8 Property in, and form and period of currency of, redundancy cards.

8. (1) A redundancy card when issued shall remain the property of the Minister.

(2) A redundancy card shall be in such form as the Minister may direct, and shall be current only during such period as may be specified thereon.

9 Emergency cards.

9. (1) Where an employer satisfies the Minister that any person in respect of whom he is, or is about to become, liable to pay redundancy contributions has not delivered or caused to be delivered to him a redundancy card in accordance with these Regulations, the employer shall furnish the name and occupation of such person to a local office for the purpose of obtaining an emergency card and such emergency card shall be deemed to be a redundancy card only for the purposes of regulations relating to the stamping of redundancy cards and to deductions from wages in respect of stamps affixed by employers and for the purpose of paragraph 14 of these Regulations.

(2) An emergency card shall—

(a) be in such form as the Minister may direct,

(b) be current during such period as may be specified thereon, and

(c) be returned at the end of the period of currency or on the previous termination of the person's employment, or on the delivery to the employer of a redundancy card in respect of such person, whichever occurs first, by the employer to the local office from which it was issued.

10 Stamping of redundancy cards.

10. (1) Every redundancy contribution payable shall, except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, be paid by the affixing of a redundancy stamp of the appropriate value to the redundancy card of the eligible employee in the space indicated for that purpose upon the card.

(2) An employer who is liable to pay redundancy contributions in respect of any eligible employee shall pay those contributions at the following times and in accordance with the following provisions—

(a) where he pays to the eligible employee wages or other pecuniary remuneration in respect of the employment of such employee, he shall, before paying to the employee the wages or remuneration in respect of any part of the period for which redundancy contributions are payable, affix to the redundancy card of the employee a redundancy stamp or stamps in payment of the redundancy contributions due in respect of that period,

(b) where he does not pay to the eligible employee wages or other pecuniary remuneration in respect of the employment, he shall, before the expiration of each contribution week in which employment occurs, affix to the redundancy card of the employee a redundancy stamp in payment of the redundancy contribution in respect of that week.

(3) (a) An employer shall, in addition to complying with any provision of or made under the Act relating to the payment of redundancy contributions, affix within the relevant time to the redundancy card of an eligible employee a redundancy stamp or stamps in payment of all the redundancy contributions due by him in respect of the period ending on—

(i) the termination of the employment, whether or not any wages are then paid;

(ii) the expiration of the period of currency of the employee's redundancy card;

(iii) any day on which the employer is requested by a duly authorised officer of the Minister or by the eligible employee to affix such stamp or stamps.

(b) In this subparagraph " the relevant time " means whichever of the following is appropriate in a particular case—

(i) the day on which the employment is terminated;

(ii) the period of six days after the expiration of the period of currency of the redundancy card;

(iii) the period of six days after the employer is requested to affix the stamp or stamps to the redundancy card.

(4) An employer shall, when so requested by a duly authorised officer of the Minister—

(a) affix to a card (herinafter referred to as an arrears card) a redundancy stamp or stamps in payment of all the redundancy contributions due by him as specified in the request in respect of any eligible employee who is or has been in his employment, and

(b) deliver the arrears card when stamped to the officer by hand or by registered post, within the time specified by the officer, not being less than six days from the date of such request.

(5) Where a request under subparagraph (3) or (4) is sent by post it shall be deemed to have been received by the person to whom it is addressed on the date on which it would normally be received in the ordinary course of post, unless the contrary is proved.

(6) An employer shall, immediately after affixing any redundancy stamp to a redundancy card, cancel the stamp by writing or marking in ink on the face of the stamp the date upon which it is affixed, or in such other manner as may be approved by the Minister, and not otherwise, but, save as approved by the Minister, no other writing or mark shall be made at any time upon the card or stamp.

11 Recovery by employer of contributions paid on behalf of eligible employee.

11. (1) This paragraph shall apply to the recovery by an employer from an eligible employee of the amount of any contribution paid or to be paid by the employer on behalf of the employee.

(2) Save where the eligible employee does not receive pecuniary remuneration from the employer, any amount so recoverable shall, notwithstanding the provisions of any Act or any contract to the contrary, be recoverable by means of deduction from the wages of the eligible employee, or from any other remuneration due from the employer to the eligible employee, and not otherwise, but no such deduction may be made—

(a) from any wages or remuneration other than such as are paid in respect of the period or part of the period in respect of which the contribution is payable,

(b) in excess of the sum which represents the amount of the contribution for the period (or the amount of the contributions if such period is longer than a week) in respect of which the wages or other remuneration are paid.

(3) Where an eligible employee does not receive any pecuniary remuneration from his employer, but receives such remuneration from some other person, the amount of any contribution paid by the employer on behalf of the employee shall (without prejudice to any other means of recovery) be recoverable from the employee as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(4) Where an eligible employee does not receive any pecuniary remuneration either from his employer or from any other person, his employer shall not be entitled to recover from the employee the amount of any contribution paid by the employer on behalf of such employee.

12 Employment by two or more employers.

12. (1) Where an employee is employed in any one week by two or more employers and where a redundancy contribution would normally be payable for each such employment, the person who is deemed to be the employer for the purposes of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952), shall be responsible for payment of the redundancy contribution.

(2) Where the eligible employee is ordinarily employed by two or more employers, such employers may make in respect of the employee an agreement to indemnify in accordance with the terms of the agreement such of them as is in pursuance of this paragraph treated as the employer of the employee for the purposes of the Act.

13 Intermediate employers.

13. Where—

(a) the immediate employer of an eligible employee is himself employed by another person (hereinafter called " the principal employer ") who has a right to the exclusive services of the immediate employer, and

(b) the eligible employee works under the general control and management of the principal employer in the business or for the purposes of the business in which the immediate employer is employed

the following provisions shall apply :

(i) the principal employer shall be treated as the employer of the eligible employee for the purposes of these Regulations;

(ii) the principal employer shall be entitled to deduct the amount of any redundancy contribution paid by him on behalf of the eligible employee from any remuneration payable by him to the immediate employer in respect of the period or any part of the period for which the contribution has been paid; and

(iii) if such amount is deducted, the immediate employer shall be entitled to recover it from the eligible employee in like manner as if he had paid the redundancy contribution.

14 Destruction and defacing of redundancy cards.

14. No person shall—

(a) destroy a redundancy card;

(b)deface a redundancy card or make, affix or impress any note or mark of any kind on or to a redundancy card or a redundancy stamp except for the purpose of—

(i) cancelling in accordance with these Regulations a redundancy stamp,

(ii) the marking, in such a manner as to be easily erased or removed, on a redundancy card by an employer of the number of the employed person to whom the card relates on the pay list or in the books of the employer;

(c) remove or erase from a redundancy card a stamp that has been affixed thereto or impressed thereon;

(d) alter, amend or erase any of the figures or particulars on a redundancy card except in accordance with the approval of the Minister.

15 Replacement of lost, destroyed or defaced cards.

15. Where a redundancy card of an eligible employee is lost, destroyed or defaced—

(a) the person who was responsible under these Regulations for the custody of the card shall forthwith report the loss, destruction or defacement to a local office,

(b) a new card may be issued free of charge in replacement,

(c) the employer shall in accordance with paragraph 10 (4) pay the redundancy contributions payable by him in respect of the eligible employee during the period of currency of the card which has been lost, destroyed or defaced, save such of those contributions as the Minister, being satisfied that they have been paid, treats as having been so paid.

16 Disposal of contributions improperly paid.

16. Where contributions are paid under the Act at the wrong rate in respect of an eligible employee, the Minister may treat them as paid on account of contributions properly payable in respect of such person.

17 Return of contributions paid in error.

17. (1) Subject to this paragraph, any contributions paid in error by a person or his employer (if any) in respect or on behalf of that person shall be returned by the Minister to that person or his employer, as the case may require, if application to that effect is made in writing to the Minister within the appropriate time specified in subparagraph (4).

(2) In calculating the amount of any repayment to be made under this paragraph to a person or an employer the amount of any contributions paid in error but treated as properly payable under paragraph 16 shall be deducted.

(3) Contributions paid in error by an employer on behalf of any person may be repaid to the employer on the receipt of an undertaking from such employer to pay to that person the amount due (if any) to that person out of such repayment.

(4) Application for the return of contributions paid in error shall be made within three years from the date on which such contributions were paid and shall be made in such form and in such manner as the Minister may from time to time determine.

18 Recovery of contributions.

18. (1) An employer who has been convicted of the offence, under section 52 (2) of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 , as it applies to the Act, of failing to pay a redundancy contribution, shall be liable to pay to the Redundancy Fund a sum equal to the amount which he failed to pay.

(2) An employer who is convicted of an offence—

(a) under section 52 (1) (b) of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 , as it applies to the Act,

(b) under regulations made by the Revenue Commissioners or by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs under section 34 of the Act, or

(c) under regulations made under the Act,

shall, if the evidence on which he is convicted shows that for the purpose of paying any redundancy contribution which he was liable to pay, he affixed to a redundancy card a used redundancy stamp, be liable to pay to the said Fund a sum equal to the amount of the redundancy contribution properly payable and in respect of which the said stamp was affixed.

(3) Where an employer is convicted of an offence under any enactment specified in subparagraph (1) or (2), if notice of intention to do so has been served with the summons or warrant, evidence may be given of the failure or neglect of the employer to pay other redundancy contributions in the year preceding the date of the offence in respect of the person in relation to whom the offence was committed and on proof of such failure the employer shall be liable to pay to the said Fund a sum equal to the total of all the redundancy contributions which he is so proved to have failed or neglected to pay.

19 Use of impressed stamps.

19. (1) An employer may, whenever so permitted by the Minister, pay redundancy contributions by means of impressed stamps.

(2) A permission under this paragraph may relate to one employer or to a class of employers.

(3) Where the Minister permits the use of impressed stamps he shall issue the employer concerned with a permit authorising him to use metallic dies and machines of a type approved by the Minister.

(4) A permit under subparagraph (3) shall be subject to such conditions (if any) as are specified therein, and may at any time be withdrawn at the discretion of the Minister.

20 Deferment of stamping.

20. (1) An employer may with the permission of the Minister defer the stamping of redundancy cards until the end of the period of currency of such cards.

(2) An employer who wishes to obtain a permission under this paragraph shall apply in writing therefor to the Minister, who before giving such permission may require the employer to deposit with him, by way of security, a sum of money equal to the value of the contributions in respect of which stamping is sought to be deferred.

(3) The Minister may at his discretion withdraw a permission under this paragraph.

21 Other methods of payment.

21. (1) An employer may, whenever so permitted by the Minister, pay redundancy contributions in cash or by cheque or money order.

(2) A permission under this paragraph may relate to one employer or to a class of employers and may be withdrawn by the Minister at his discretion.

22 Breach of regulations.

22. A person who contravenes or fails to comply with these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a fine not exceeding ten pounds for each day on which the offence is continued.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 3rd day of January, 1968.

P. S. Ó h-IRIGHILE,

Minister for Labour.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations deal with matters related to the collection of redundancy contributions. They provide for the issue, custody, inspection, return, disposal and ownership of redundancy cards; the use of emergency cards; the stamping of redundancy cards and the recovery by the employer of contributions paid on behalf of the employee. The Regulations also specify who is responsible for payment of redundancy contributions in cases where persons are employed by two or more employers or by intermediate employers. The Regulations prohibit the destruction or defacement of redundancy cards and provide for the replacement of lost, destroyed or defaced cards.

In addition, the Regulations provide for taking account of contributions paid at the wrong rate, the return of contributions paid in error and the recovery of contributions from an employer who has been convicted of an offence under the Act regarding the stamping of redundancy cards.

The Regulations further provide for the payment of redundancy contributions by means of impressed stamps and in certain cases by cash, cheque or money order.

The Regulations also specify the penalties for breaches of the Regulations.