Unemployment benefit or assistance may be paid where a person is employed for three days or less in any six consecutive days (excluding Sunday). For the purposes of unemployment benefit, a person working less than the normal full-time days in a particular employment may be categorised as part-time, casual or systematic short-time. Part-time employment is regarded as employment where the employee is engaged to work for less than the normal full-time number of days or hours in the employment concerned. The volume of work must be of an ongoing nature but not sufficient to sustain full-time employment.
Legislation provides that a person is regarded as being engaged in casual employment for unemployment benefit purposes where s/he is normally employed for periods of less than a week, the number of days and the days of the week on which the person is employed varies with the level of activity in the employer's business, and on the termination of each period of employment, the person has no assurance of being re-employed with the same employer. The requirement to have suffered a substantial loss of employment, where a person must work a reduced numbers of days in the week from that which she or he would normally work, and which applies to all other unemployment benefit claims, does not apply to casual workers, as defined.
A person is regarded as being engaged in systematic short-time working where his or her full-time working week is reduced by the employer and where there is a clear repetitive pattern of employment each week. The number of days of benefit payable each week to a systematic short-time worker is limited to ensure that the total of the number of days paid and the number of days worked does not exceed five.
Where a casual or part-time worker has insufficient contributions to qualify for unemployment benefit, she or he may qualify for unemployment assistance, a means-tested payment. Earnings are assessed at 60% for UA purposes. In addition, persons without children are allowed a €12.70 disregard for each day worked. Casual or part-time workers are subject to the same conditions as any other unemployed person for entitlement to UA. The question of changes in the conditions for receipt of unemployment benefit or assistance will be a matter for consideration in a budgetary context and in the context of priorities generally.