Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 July 2023
252. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on his engagement with a company (details supplied), specifically on representations made in respect of the need for an adequate severance package for workers and on the need for a voluntary first approach to redundancies. [33634/23]
View answerIn March of this year, Meta's CEO outlined a global restructuring and downsizing indicating that the company would reduce the size of its recruiting team in March and would then announce restructurings and layoffs in its tech groups in late April and business groups in late May. This equated to 10,000 job cuts globally and Meta said it will close around 5,000 "open" roles that had not yet been filled.
Where companies are reducing headcount through redundancies, IDA Ireland works with its client companies to understand the skills profile of impacted staff, and to share relevant profiles with companies that may be hiring.
IDA is in regular contact with Meta in Ireland and in the US, and will continue to keep in close contact with Meta’s Irish management to offer support. IDA has shared details on IDA Transformation supports for upskilling and reskilling with the company.
The Protection of Employment Act 1977 imposes certain legal obligations on employers proposing collective redundancies. These obligations include engaging in an information and consultation process of at least 30 days with employees’ representatives. The consultation with employees’ representatives should include the possibility of avoiding the proposed redundancies, reducing the number of employees effected or mitigating their consequences.
Eligible employees are entitled to a minimum statutory redundancy payment provided for in the Redundancy Payments Act 1967, which employers are obliged to pay by law. However, negotiations on enhanced redundancy packages, which are over and above the statutory entitlement, are entirely a voluntary matter between employers and workers. Similarly, decisions on voluntary redundancy packages are for companies themselves to determine.
Ireland has a robust framework of legislative protections and supports for workers who are impacted by redundancy. The State provides a very advanced industrial relations framework, which includes the services of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court to support parties in their efforts to resolve any differences. The WRC and Labour Court are wholly independent in the exercising of their functions.
