The Protection of Employment Act 1977 makes it mandatory on employers to notify the Minister of a proposed collective redundancy. ‘Collective redundancies’ arise where, during any period of 30 consecutive days, the employees being made redundant are:
- 5 employees where 21-49 are employed.
- 10 employees where 50-99 are employed.
- 10% of the employees where 100-299 are employed.
- 30 employees where 300 or more are employed.
As the company has less than 21 employees, they are not obliged to notify the Minister under the Protection of Employment Act 1997. I can confirm that I have not been notified of redundancies at the company.
Under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 the employees may be eligible for a redundancy payment. It is the responsibility of the employer to pay statutory redundancy payments to eligible employees. In the event that due to financial difficulties the employer is unable to make statutory redundancy payments, they may submit applications to this Department under the Redundancy Payments Scheme.
I also want to assure the Deputy that my Department will assist the affected workers through its Intreo service to help them in whatever way we can in terms of income supports and job-seeking over the coming weeks and months.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.
