I propose to take Questions Nos. 335, 336, 337, 338, 340 and 341 together.
Section 2 of the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020 makes provision for the introduction of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) which will ultimately replace the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS). Both schemes will run in parallel from 31 July 2020 until the TWSS ceases at the end of August 2020. Employers who have already availed of the TWSS may make an additional claim for non-TWSS employees in the EWSS from 31 July. This is to provide additional flexibility in circumstances where employees were not previously eligible to be paid via TWSS, such as new hires and seasonal workers. If applicable, some claims may be backdated for employees who have been paid from 1 July 2020.
The EWSS is a stand-alone measure to support firm viability through an unprecedented enterprise environment and it is based on clear, objective criteria that may be determined by the Revenue Commissioners.
Concerns around manipulation of access to the EWSS have been addressed to the greatest extent possible and it is not appropriate to link qualification for the EWSS with matters that are more appropriate for employment law or training bodies.
The position in relation to the EWSS and the TWSS does not affect any legal obligations that the employer may have to their employee as regards any terms, conditions or entitlements of their employment, including pay, sick pay or pension schemes.
Subsection 2(6) of Section 2B of the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020 has safeguards in place. It states that except for bona fide commercial reasons, an employer cannot access the EWSS if they have laid off a qualifying employee and replaced them with two or more qualifying employees who work less hours with the aim of increasing the number of qualifying employees so that they can get an increased subsidy payment.
Anything beyond that would be expressly outside of the remit of the Revenue Commissioners, but there are a sufficient number of bodies that deal with employment disputes in Ireland and where there is a high amount of expertise including the Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court. There are already checks and balances in place to ensure fairness to employees and employers.
Further, the proposed legislation requires that immediately at the end of each month, from August 2020 onwards, each employer availing of the EWSS must carry out a self-review of its business circumstances. Following such review, if it is manifest to the employer that it no longer will meet the eligibility test for qualification for the scheme, namely, at least a 30 per cent reduction in business turnover or customer orders in the period from 1 July to 31 December 2020 by reference to the corresponding 2019 period, then the employer must immediately cease claiming wage subsidy payments.
Finally, the administration of the EWSS will be placed under the care and management of Revenue, as was done with its predecessor, the TWSS. The Deputy will be aware of Revenue’s ongoing compliance programme relating to the TWSS. While Revenue’s focus on the EWSS in its early stages will no doubt be concentrated on getting the scheme up and running and ensuring that all employers who are eligible for subsidy payments receive the payments quickly, Revenue will, in due course, undertake an appropriate employer compliance campaign relating to the EWSS.