The treatment of subsidiary employment is governed by Article 44 of SI 142 of 2007. The relevant section is set out below. In addition I am including an extract from the jobseeker's benefit guidelines which are available to all staff and are also available on the Department's website www.welfare.ie. A reminder regarding the guidelines on subsidiary employment issued to managers on 7th April 2014 for the attention of their staff.
SI 142 of 2007
Days
not
to
be treated as days of unemployment.
44. (1) For the purposes of Chapter 12 of Part 2, a day shall not be treated as a day of unemployment if it is a day in respect of which a person –
(a) fails to prove to the satisfaction of the Minister that he or she is unemployed, capable of work and available for employment, or
(b) follows any occupation from which he or she derives any remuneration or profit,
unless such occupation -
(i) could ordinarily have been followed by him or her in addition to his or her
usual employment and outside the ordinary working hours of that
employment and –
(I) the remuneration or profit from any day of such occupation does not
exceed €12.70, or, where the remuneration or profit is in respect of a
period longer than a day, such remuneration or profit does not on the
daily average exceed that amount, or
(II) not less than 117 employment contributions have been paid in respect
of him or her in respect of the period of 3 years immediately preceding
that day or in respect of the last 3 complete contribution years
immediately preceding that day,
or
(ii) constitutes employment as a retained fire fighter.
(2) Where the provisions of sub-paragraph (1)(b)(ii) are satisfied as respects any day they shall continue to be regarded as satisfied in respect of any subsequent day which is in the same period of interruption of employment.’
Extract from the Jobseekers Benefit guidelines
(j) Subsidiary employment: special provision
A day is not normally treated as a day of unemployment if the claimant is engaged in any occupation from which s/he derives any remuneration or profit unless the following conditions are satisfied:
- the occupation could ordinarily have been followed by him/her in addition to his/her usual employment, and
- the occupation could ordinarily have been followed by him/her outside the ordinary working hours of his usual employment
and either
- the remuneration or profit from the occupation does not exceed €12.70 per day, or, where the remuneration or profit is in respect of a longer period, it does not on a daily average exceed €12.70 per day
or
- at least 117 employment contributions have been paid in respect of him/her in either the last 3 years or the last 3 complete contribution years immediately prior to the date of claim.
In general, it would be deemed appropriate to consider an occupation/employment as subsidiary where the above conditions are satisfied and where both employments were carried out concurrently for a period of 6 months immediately prior to the date of claim. In such circumstances it is possible for a person to be engaged in insurable employment or self-employment and still satisfy the unemployment condition.
Example:
A person is a factory worker (8 am - 5 pm) and also works at night as a barman in a disco. His employment at the factory ceases but he continues to work at night.
It is clear that the bar work is a subsidiary occupation [i.e. could be followed in addition to, and outside the normal working hours of, his usual employment (factory worker)]. If the condition as to remuneration (not exceeding €12.70 per day) or the requirement to have at least 117 contributions paid in the relevant period is satisfied, the days on which he works as a barman may be treated as days of unemployment.
This provision relates solely to the determination of circumstances in which days may be treated as days of unemployment. The other conditions for receipt of JB must also be satisfied before payment can issue, e.g. the obligations to be available for and genuinely seeking work.
Subsequent increases in the level of engagement in a subsidiary occupation may affect its status e.g. if the number of hours worked increase to such an extent that it would no longer be possible to follow it in addition to a usual employment or where the hours are varied so that they now fall within the ordinary working hours of the usual employment.
