Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 May 2020
53. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Finance if there is an obligation under the temporary wage subsidy scheme on employers to pay employees if the employees have returned to work as certain restrictions are lifted (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7292/20]
View answerThe Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) is provided for in section 28 of the recently enacted Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. In the context of the need for immediate implementation of the TWSS, the scheme necessarily had to build on data returned to Revenue through its real-time PAYE system.
The key conditions of the scheme, as prescribed in the underlying law, are that –
- the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic,
- the employees were on the payroll at 29 February 2020, and
- the employer had fulfilled its PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 before, in general, 15 March 2020, although this was extended recently to 1 April 2020.
The latter two conditions were particularly designed with a view to preventing abuse of the scheme.
The TWSS is predicated on the employer wanting to keep the employees on the payroll and to retain them until business picks up and can only operate in respect of an employee, whether full-time or part-time, who was on the payroll of the employer as at 29 February 2020. The amount of the subsidy for each employee is calculated based on the average net weekly pay reported for January and February 2020. There is no distinction made regarding the subsidy amount based on whether the business has closed due to the restrictions brought in by the Government or has continued to trade with employees continuing to work part-time or work full time with similar hours as before the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, the scheme has no role in relation to the employer/employee relationship in so far as terms, conditions and entitlements of the employment are concerned.
The employer is expected to make best efforts to maintain the employee’s net income reflected in the average net weekly payment for January and February 2020, for the duration of the TWSS. There is, however, no minimum amount that the employer must pay as an additional payment in order to be eligible for the scheme, but for Revenue operational system reasons, the employer will need to enter at least €0.01 in Gross Pay when running its payroll.
The question of an individual’s entitlements in an employment context following his or her resumption of duty after a period of leave, whether paid or unpaid, and the question of what wages an employer may or may not be in a position to pay such an employee in the light of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the employer’s business, are matters that are outside the remit of the TWSS.
