Vol. 430 No. 5
143 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the measures, if any, which he will take to deal with the regressive trend of senior, but youthful, workers being offered redundancy while their positions are subsequently filled by contracted temporary workers.
The redundancy payments scheme operates under the Redundancy Payments Acts to compensate workers for the loss of their jobs by reason of redundancy i.e. where an employee's job ceases to exist and he/she is not replaced.
It is not clear from the Deputy's question as to whether the status of the "contracted temporary workers" to which he refers derives from a contract of service or from a contract for services (i.e. whether they are, respectively, employed or self-employed).
In the event that contracts for services are involved, the reorganisation of a business in this manner is a matter for decision by the employer as is deemed necessary to achieve the most efficient operation of the enterprise.
However, if the new engagements are entered into on a contract of service basis (i.e. the persons concerned are employees of the business) it would seem that, for the purposes of the Redundancy Payments Scheme, a genuine redundancy situation would not exist (the test being, generally, that an employer needs fewer employees to do work of a particular kind).
