Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2017
746. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she has examined payment policies and their impact on employees, for example, when employees are paid monthly and begin a new job they can be up to five weeks without any income; her plans to conduct such a review and reduce this time period to two weeks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4057/17]
View answerUnder the Payment of Wages Act, 1991, modes of payment of wages are regulated. The methods of payment that are permitted include the following:
- a cheque or bank draft drawn on any of the commercial banks or a Trustee Savings Bank;
- a Payable Order or Warrant, issued by a Minister of the Government, Local Authority, etc.;
- a Postal Order, Money Order or Payable Order Warrant issued by or drawn on An Post;
- a credit transfer to an account specified by the employee;
- cash.
This Act also requires employers to provide a statement regarding wages to employees and regulates the deductions from wages that can be made. Payment intervals are not regulated. The matter is essentially a matter of contract between an employer and an employee. As this matter has not been one of contention, I have no plans to regulate to create a statutory upper limit of two weeks.
The Terms of Employment Information Act 1994 (as amended) (the 1994 Act) provides that an employer must provide an employee with a written statement of certain particulars of the terms of employment, including “the length of the intervals between the times at which remuneration is paid, whether a week, a month or any other interval”.
I am reviewing certain aspects of the 1994 Act in the context of bringing forward proposals in response to the University of Limerick Study on zero hour contracts and low hour contracts. The policy response will seek to ensure that workers are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements and their core terms at an early stage in their employment. In this respect, my Department is currently engaged in a dialogue process with ICTU and Ibec with a view to securing broad agreement before proposals are finalised. This work is nearing conclusion.
