Redundancy Payments Act, 1971

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The substitution in subsection (1) for the definition of “the Employment Service” of the following:

“ ‘the National Manpower Service’ means the service known by that title and operated under the control of the Minister;”.

The substitution in subsection (1) of “four years” for “two years”.

The insertion after subsection (3) (b) of the following:

“(c) In deducing any relationship for the purposes of paragraph (b)—

(i) a person adopted under the Adoption Acts, 1952 and 1964, shall be considered the legitimate offspring of the adopter or adopters;

(ii) subject to clause (i) of this paragraph, an illegitimate person shall be considered the legitimate offspring of his mother and reputed father;

(iii) a person in loco parentis to another shall be considered the parent of that other.”.

The substitution in subsection (1) (b) of “four years” for “two years”.

The deletion in subsection (1) (c) of “without notice”.

The deletion in subsection (1) of “after the commencement of this Act”.

The insertion after subsection (2) of the following:

The deletion in subsections (1) and (2) of “who has received the notice required by section 17” and “in the period of two weeks ending on the date of dismissal”.

The substitution in subsections (1) (b) and (2) (b) for “his dismissal” of “the termination of his contract”, and the substitution in subsections (1) (c) and (2) (d) for “dismissal” of “the termination of his contract”.

The insertion after subsection (2) of the following subsection:

“(2A) Where an employee who has been offered suitable employment and has carried out, for a period of not more than four weeks, the duties of that employment, refuses the offer, the temporary acceptance of that employment shall not solely constitute an unreasonable refusal for the purposes of this section.”.

The substitution for subsection (3) of the following:

The substitution for subsection (1) of the following:

“(1) When an employer dismisses by reason of redundancy an employee who has not less than 104 weeks' continuous employment, he shall give to the employee not later than the date of the dismissal a certificate (in this Part referred to as a redundancy certificate).”.

The substitution for subsection (2) of the following:

The deletion of paragraph 2 and the substitution therefor of the following—

“(2) The total amount being paid to a person in respect of the following:

a weekly payment, unemployment benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1970, disability benefit under those Acts, maternity allowance under those Acts, unemployment assistance under the Unemployment Assistance Acts, 1933 to 1970, or (in the case of a person normally resident in Northern Ireland) a weekly payment, unemployment benefit under the National Insurance Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1970, sickness benefit under those Acts, maternity allowance under those Acts, supplementary benefit under the Supplementary Benefits Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1969,

shall not exceed 90 per cent of that person's normal weekly remuneration; provided that a person shall not receive in respect of unemployment benefit, disability or sickness benefit, maternity allowance, unemployment assistance or supplementary benefit less than that to which that person would, but for this Act, have been entitled.”

The substitution for paragraph 4 of the following:

“4. A weekly payment shall not be paid to a person otherwise entitled thereto for any period during which that person is, by virtue of section 15 (2) of the Act of 1952, disentitled to disability benefit or unemployment benefit.”.

The substitution for paragraph 5 of the following:

“5. (a) A weekly payment shall not be paid to a person in respect of any period unless during that period the person was not gainfully employed and the fact that he was not so employed could not reasonably be attributed to the person's own failure or refusal to seek or accept or continue in suitable gainful employment.

(b) A person who is entitled to and in receipt of unemployment benefit or disability benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1970, may be deemed to be not gainfully employed for the purposes of this paragraph.”.

The insertion in paragraph 6 after “redundancy” of “or by whom he was employed when he gave notice of intention to claim under section 12; provided that he shall, subject to paragraph 5, in every case be entitled to receive not less than four weekly payments”.

The substitution for paragraph 7 of the following:

“7. In calculating years of continuous employment for the purposes of paragraph 6 in relation to a person whose employment is terminated after the commencement of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1971, each period of one year during the whole of which the person entitled to the weekly payment was 41 years of age or older shall be reckoned as two completed years of continuous employment.”.

The substitution in paragraph 9 of “any period referred to in paragraph 4” for “the two-week period mentioned in paragraph 4.”

The substitution in paragraph 9 of “in such a period mentioned in paragraph 4” for “that two-week period”.

The insertion in paragraph 14 after “within the State” of “or Northern Ireland”.

The insertion after paragraph 14 of the following:

“15. (1) A person who has lost employment by reason of a stoppage of work which was due to a trade dispute at the factory, workshop, farm or other premises or place at which he was employed shall not be entitled to a weekly payment so long as the stoppage of work continues, except, subject to paragraph 5, in a case where he has, during the stoppage of work, become bona fide employed elsewhere in the occupation which he usually follows or has become regularly engaged in some other occupation.

(2) Where separate branches of work which are commonly carried on as separate businesses in separate premises or at separate places are in any case carried on in separate departments on the same premises or at the same place, each of those departments shall, for the purposes of subparagraph (1), be deemed to be a separate factory, workshop or farm or separate premises or a separate place, as the case may be.

(3) Subparagraph (1) shall not apply to a person who—

(a) is not participating in or financing or directly interested in the trade dispute which caused the stoppage of work, and

(b) does not belong to a grade or class of workers of which, immediately before the commencement of the stoppage, there were members employed at his place of employment any of whom are participating in or financing or directly interested in the dispute.

(4) In this paragraph ‘trade dispute’ means any dispute between employers and employees, or between employees and employees, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or the conditions of employment of any persons, whether employees in the employment of the employer with whom the dispute arises or not.”.

In paragraph 17, the substitution for “has given notice to an employee to terminate his contract of employment and” of “before the termination of an employee's contract of employment”.

The deletion of paragraph 19 (1).

The insertion in paragraphs 1 (a) and 1 (b) after “with the employer in whose employment he was on the date of dismissal”, of “or by whom he was employed when he gave notice of intention to claim under section 12,”.

The deletion in paragraph 1 (b) of “on the date of his dismissal”.

The insertion in paragraph 1 after subparagraph (b) of the following:

“and

(c) a sum equivalent to the employee's normal weekly remuneration.”.

The deletion of paragraph 2.

The substitution in paragraph 5 (1) for “Where an employee's period of service had been” of “Where an employee's period of employment is or was”.

The insertion in paragraph 5 (1) (a) after “sickness” of “(including an injury)”.

The insertion after paragraph 5 (1) (a) of the following:

“(ai) any period by reason of service by the employee in the Reserve Defence Force,”.

The deletion of paragraph 5 (1) (b) (iii).

In paragraph 5 (1), the deletion of “has been given” and the substitution of “has or had been given”.

The insertion after paragraph 5 of the following:

“(5A) If an employee is dismissed by reason of redundancy before attaining the period of 104 weeks referred to in section 7 (5) (as amended) of the Principal Act and resumes employment with the same employer within 26 weeks, his employment shall be taken to be continuous.”

The substitution for paragraph 6 of the following:

“6. Where a trade or business or an undertaking (whether or not it be an undertaking established by or under an Act of the Oireachtas), or part of a trade or business or of such an undertaking, was or is transferred from one person to another, the period of employment of an employee in the trade, business or undertaking (or in the part of the trade, business or undertaking) at the time of the transfer shall count as a period of employment with the transferee, and the transfer shall not break the continuity of the period of employment.”.

The insertion in paragraph 13 after “work done” where that secondly occurs of “and any payment in kind”.

The substitution in paragraph 13 for “an employee who is expected to work overtime regularly” of “an employee who is normally expected to work overtime”.