Vol. 444 No. 5
55 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he will examine the case of a person (details supplied) in County Waterford who was made redundant prior to Christmas, 1993, but who did not receive any redundancy payment despite the fact that his employer relaunched a similar company in another area.
Where a redundancy, as defined in the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967-1991 has taken place, an eligible employee must be given notice in writing of the proposed dismissal. Form RP1 must be used for this purpose. A duplicate copy of the notice, fully completed, must be sent to my Department at the same time as it is given to the employee. These are legal requirements.
My Department has no record of such notice having been received in respect of the person on whose behalf the Deputy inquires or indeed, in respect of any other persons employed by the company in question. Furthermore, my Department does not have any record of an application by the person concerned for payment of a statutory redundancy lump sum from the Social Insurance Fund on the basis that his employer refused to pay a statutory redundancy entitlement.
Under the Redundancy Payments Act, responsibility for the payment of a statutory redundancy lump sum entitlement rests in the first instance with the employer. Accordingly, if the person concerned considers that he is entitled to a statutory redundancy payment which he has not received, he should approach his former employer with a view to obtaining this entitlement. If the former employer refuses or fails to make the payment within a reasonable time, the employee can then apply to my Department for payment from the Social Insurance Fund. Such an application must be supported by evidence of entitlement to a redundancy lump sum either in the form of a redundancy certificate — Form RP2 — issued by the former employer or, where entitlement is contested by the former employer, a decision from the Employment Appeals Tribunal in the employee's favour.
