asked the Minister for Social Welfare if it is his intention to abolish the practice of unemployment benefit being denied to persons where the employer has neglected to stamp their social welfare cards or where the cards have been stolen from the firm's premises.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Denial of Unemployment Benefit.
5.
Insured persons are not subjected to loss of unemployment benefit as suggested by the Deputy.
Title statutorily depends on the fulfilment of certain contribution conditions. If these conditions are not satisfied because of failure or neglect by an employer to stamp an employee's insurance cards at the proper times, unemployment benefit cannot be paid to the employee concerned from the Social Insurance Fund. In such a case, however, the employer is legally responsible for the amount lost, which may be recovered from him, if necessary, through the courts.
As indicated to the Deputy in a recent reply, where stamped cards are stolen from the custody of the employer, credit can be allowed for the contributions involved where there is satisfactory evidence that the missing cards were in fact duly stamped and there need be no loss of benefit to the employee.
I see no necessity for altering the law in either instance.
Is the Minister not aware that there is a considerable delay in the making of a decision as to whether or not the worker should get paid, and having regard to the fact that the worker concerned is seeking to obtain unemployment benefit and is out of employment, surely he considers it desirable to have immediate decisions made in matters of this kind?
I hope that a decision will be made as expeditiously as circumstances permit. Sometimes these matters can be quite complicated, as the Deputy well knows.
Surely where there is evidence in existence that a factory was broken into at a particular time of year and subsequently that factory closes down and it is found that cards are gone, there should not be any delay in paying the worker concerned? This has happened and this is my complaint.