Vol. 566 No. 2
41 Mr. Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if, in view of a number of recent announcements of redundancies, she is satisfied with the current redundancy legislation for employees who have been made redundant; if it could be improved; and if she has plans to improve the relevant legislation. [12247/03]
The recently agreed national partnership programme, Sustaining Progress, provides that the terms of the statutory redundancy scheme be improved substantially. The Government approved a Bill to give effect to the new enhanced redundancy payments scheme on 30 April and published it on 7 May.
The proposed new legislation will allow for: the distinction between service under and over 41 years to be removed; two weeks pay for every year of service; the retention of a bonus week; rebate of 60% to the employer to be retained; simpler method of calculating service; changes in treatment of absences from work; treatment of service abroad; simplification of application forms; a new IT system, including an electronic government aspect; and employees of insolvent companies can make claims for minimum notice entitlements under the insolvency payments scheme without having to obtain an award from the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
The Tánaiste intends to bring the increased statutory payments into effect at the earliest possible date. Pending the enactment of the new legislation, the existing statutory redundancy terms remain operative. Backdating is not possible because the redundancy scheme places obligations on employers and confers rights on employees. The legal advice from the Attorney General's office is that obligations, such as increased statutory redundancy, cannot be assigned to employers retrospectively.
