Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 September 2014
50. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the actions she will take to redress the difficulties experienced by employees in situations where their employer goes out of business but has not been formally wound up, particularly the problem in relation to such employees not having access to the State's insolvency fund. [33338/14]
View answer54. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection her plans to address the flaws in the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act 1984, as amended in 2006, which allowed for rogue employers not to give the necessary support employees require during an insolvency process. [34662/14]
View answer142. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection the dates on which she, her Ministers of State or Department officials have met with the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to discuss the exclusion of workers from the insolvency payments scheme where a company ceases trading and, in effect, is informally insolvent; and the outcome of these meetings. [34421/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 54 and 142 together.
The purpose of the insolvency payments scheme, which operates under the Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act, 1984, which, in turn, derives from EU Council Directive 987/80, is to protect certain outstanding pay-related entitlements due to employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer. These entitlements include wages, holiday pay, sick pay, payment in lieu of minimum notice due under the Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment Acts, 1973-2001, and certain pension contributions. Various other statutory awards made by the Employment Appeals Tribunal, Rights Commissioners, etc., are also covered by the scheme.
Where a person’s former employer was a limited company, the company must be in liquidation or receivership in order for the person to be eligible to claim under the insolvency payments scheme. In such circumstances, the liquidator or receiver becomes the relevant officer for submitting claims as he or she has access to the company records and can certify that the amounts claimed are in order.
I am aware that there are cases where companies have ceased trading without engaging in a formal winding-up process and that in some such cases those employers may owe monies to their employees. Such employees are not eligible for payments under the insolvency payments scheme. I have asked my Department to review the position to establish what, if anything can be done to progress payments to individuals in these situations.
My Department is consulting with a range of interested parties in this review including the ODCE, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Revenue Commissioners. The Department has received submissions from ICTU on the issue. In its review the Department will also have to have regard to legal issues arising in the general area of insolvency law and the potential impacts that any proposed policy development will have in that area of law. To date my officials have had one meeting with the various parties mentioned above in connection with this issue.
I am not in a position to indicate when this review will be completed.
