Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 September 2020
89. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Finance the measures his Department has in place to ensure that workers who remain on the employment subsidy scheme with their employers and who are working a specified number of hours per week are not receiving less than the statutory minimum wage or their former hourly pay rates; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22962/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) is an economy-wide enterprise support that gives a flat rate subsidy to qualifying employers. It is a stand-alone measure to preserve the link between employee and employer and support firm viability through an unprecedented enterprise environment and it is based on clear, objective criteria that may be determined by the Revenue Commissioners.
The position in relation to the EWSS and the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (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.
In designing the scheme, concerns around manipulation of access to the EWSS have been addressed to the greatest extent possible. Subsection 2(6) of Section 2B of the Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020 has safeguards in place. This section provides Revenue with significant powers to address the type of abuse the Deputy is referring to, i.e. if an employer “has resorted to any contrivance by way of deferring, suspending increasing or decreasing the gross pay that would otherwise have been paid to the qualifying employee.”
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. Although these bodies fall under the remit of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, it is understood that 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. 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 in a timely manner, I have no doubt but that Revenue will, in due course, undertake an appropriate employer compliance campaign relating to the EWSS.
