The position is that employees who have at least two years service and are between the age of 16 and 66 years are entitled to receive a statutory redundancy lump sum payment from their employer on being made redundant.
To be entitled to a statutory redundancy payment, an employee must be in employment which is insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare Acts at any time within the four year period prior to the date of termination of employment.
In a case where an employee becomes a director, his or her case is referred to the Department of Social and Family Affairs for a decision regarding insurability before the entitlement to redundancy is established: this process generally takes a few extra weeks. If the employee is found to have met the insurability requirements of the Redundancy Acts, then he or she is entitled to be paid a statutory redundancy lump sum. If the employee fails to meet the insurability requirements, he or she is not entitled to receive any payment.
An employee-director who meets the criteria laid down in the Redundancy Acts is entitled to have all service treated as reckonable in the calculation of a lump sum.
Payment of statutory redundancy should be made by the employer to qualified persons on the date of termination of employment. If the employer fails to pay the statutory redundancy to the employees, payment is made by this Department direct to the employees within four weeks of the date of receipt of the claims, with the exception of referrals to the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
