A general notification of collective redundancies in respect of the company concerned was received by my Department on 1 May 2003, with the reason given being company rationalisation. As per normal practice, individual names of employees were not mentioned in this notification. No further notifications or claims for payment have been received.
If the employees concerned have less than one year's service they can take a case to a rights commissioner at the Labour Relations Commission under the Industrial Relations Act 1969. The commission can be contacted at 01 6136700 or LoCall 1890 220 222. If they feel that they have been unfairly dismissed from their employment or unfairly selected for redundancy they may make an appeal to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. The tribunal can be contacted at 6313006 or LoCall 1890 220 222.
Companies may apply for a work permit to employ non-EEA nationals where they have been unsuccessful in attempts to recruit an Irish or other EEA national for the specific job in question. Applicants must first have advertised the job through FÁS before the Department will accept a work permit application. The European Economic Area, EEA, consists of the EU together with Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and, for employment purposes, Switzerland. The Department's records show that only one work permit in respect of one non-EEA worker has issued to this employer in the past 12 months.
For advice and information covering all aspects of employment law, contact could be made with employment rights information section of my Department at 01 6313131 or LoCall 1890 201 615.
Question No. 158 answered with Question No. 72.
