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21 1967

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT, 1967

PART III

Redundancy Fund

Establishment of the Redundancy Fund.

26. —(1) For the purposes of this Act there shall be established a fund which shall be known as the Redundancy Fund, into which there shall be paid all moneys received by the Minister under this Part and out of which payments shall be made in accordance with this Act.

(2) The Redundancy Fund shall comprise a current account, to be managed and controlled by the Minister, and an investment account, to be managed and controlled by the Minister for Finance.

(3) Save where otherwise specifically provided, sums payable into the Redundancy Fund shall be paid into the current account thereof and sums payable out of the Redundancy Fund shall be paid out of that account.

(4) Moneys standing to the credit of the current account of the Redundancy Fund and not required to meet current expenditure shall be transferred to the investment account of the Redundancy Fund.

(5) Whenever the moneys in the current account of the Redundancy Fund are insufficient to meet the liabilities of that account, there shall be transferred to that account from the investment account of the Redundancy Fund such sums as may be necessary for the purpose of discharging those liabilities.

(6) Subject to subsection (5), moneys standing to the credit of the investment account of the Redundancy Fund shall be invested by the Minister for Finance, and income arising from any such investment shall be paid into that account.

(7) An investment pursuant to subsection (6) may be in any securities in which trustees are for the time being by law empowered to invest trust funds or in any of the stocks, funds and securities as are for the time being authorised by law as investments for Post Office Savings Bank funds.

(8) Accounts of the Redundancy Fund shall be prepared in such form, in such manner and at such times as the Minister for Finance may direct and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine and certify every such account and a copy thereof, together with the report thereon of the Comptroller and Auditor General, shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

Financing of Redundancy Fund.

27. —(1) For the purpose of providing moneys for making payments which under this Act are to be made out of the Redundancy Fund there shall be paid into the Fund—

(a) weekly contributions which shall comprise a contribution (in this Part referred to as an employer's redundancy contribution) by employers and a contribution (in this Part referred to as an employee's redundancy contribution) by employees, and

(b) advances as provided for in subsection (2).

(2) The Minister for Finance may, on the recommendation of the Minister, advance from time to time to the Fund such sums as he thinks proper in order to enable the making of such payments out of the Fund as are required by this Act.

(3) Advances to the Redundancy Fund under subsection (2) shall be made on such terms as to repayments, interest and other matters as the Minister for Finance, in consultation with the Minister, may determine.

(4) All sums paid by the Fund in repayment of an advance under this section or in pursuance of any term or condition subject to which an advance was made under this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer.

(5) All moneys from time to time required by the Minister for Finance to meet sums which may become payable by him under this section shall be advanced out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(6) The Minister for Finance may, for the purpose of providing for the advance of sums out of the Central Fund under this section, borrow on the security of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof any sums required for that purpose, and for the purpose of such borrowing, he may create and issue securities bearing such rate of interest and subject to such conditions as to repayment, redemption or otherwise as he thinks fit, and shall pay all moneys so borrowed into the Exchequer.

(7) The principal of and interest on all securities issued under this section and the expenses incurred in connection with the issue of such securities shall be charged on and payable out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof.

(8) The income and expenditure of the Redundancy Fund for a financial year shall be determined for the purposes of this section by the Minister on such basis as may be agreed on between him and the Minister for Finance.

Amount of weekly contribution to Redundancy Fund.

28. —(1) An employer's redundancy contribution shall be at the rate of eightpence per contribution week in respect of each eligible male employee and sixpence per contribution week in respect of each eligible female employee.

(2) An employee's redundancy contribution shall be at the rate of fourpence per contribution week for an eligible male employee and threepence per contribution week for an eligible female employee.

(3) (a) The Minister may by order vary a rate specified in this section.

(b) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under this subsection.

(4) An employer shall be liable in the first instance to pay both the employer's redundancy contribution in respect of himself and also, on behalf of and to the exclusion of each eligible employee, the contribution payable by such employee.

(5) An employer shall be entitled, subject to and in accordance with regulations, to recover from an eligible employee the amount of any redundancy contribution paid or to be paid by him on behalf of that employee, and, notwithstanding anything in any enactment, regulations for the purposes of this subsection may authorise recovery by deductions from the employee's remuneration, but any such regulations shall provide that—

(a) where the employee does not receive any pecuniary remuneration either from the employer or from any other person, the employer shall not be entitled to recover the amount of any such contribution from him, and

(b) where the employee receives any pecuniary remuneration from the employer, the employer shall not be entitled to recover any such contribution otherwise than by deductions.

(6) Notwithstanding any contract to the contrary, an employer shall not be entitled to deduct from the remuneration of a person employed by him, or otherwise to recover from such a person, the employer's redundancy contribution in respect of that person.

(7) A contribution under this section shall be payable in respect of each contribution week during the whole or any part of which the employee concerned was employed and in respect of which an employment contribution was payable for that employee under the Act of 1952.

(8) In this section—

contribution week” means a period of seven days commencing at midnight on a Sunday;

eligible”, in relation to an employee, means an employee to whom, by virtue of section 4 or an order thereunder, this Act applies.

Rebates to employers from the Redundancy Fund.

29. —(1) Subject to this Part the Minister shall make from the Redundancy Fund a payment to an employer of such sum (in this Part referred to as a rebate) as is equivalent in amount to one-half of each lump sum paid by that employer under section 19.

(2) An employer who gives to the Minister a copy of a notice under section 17 on a date which is three weeks or more before the date of dismissal shall be entitled to a rebate of an amount equal to one-half of the lump sum concerned increased by 2½ per cent. of the lump sum for each week's notice in excess of the period required by section 17; provided that a rebate shall not in any case exceed such sum as is equivalent in amount to 65 per cent. of the relevant lump sum paid by the employer under section 19.

(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1), whenever an employer fails to comply with any provision of section 17, the Minister may at his discretion reduce the amount of the rebate payable in respect of the lump sum paid under section 19 to that employer: provided that the amount of the rebate when so reduced shall not be less than 40 per cent. of the amount of the lump sum.

(4) Where, in a case falling within section 32 (1) (a), the Minister makes a payment under that section to an employee and it appears to the Minister that the refusal or failure of the employer was without reasonable excuse, the Minister may either withhold the rebate to which that employer would otherwise have been entitled or reduce the amount of that rebate to such extent as the Minister thinks appropriate.

Weekly payments to employees from Redundancy Fund.

30. —(1) Upon his dismissal by reason of redundancy or upon the termination by him, in accordance with section 12 (2), of his contract of employment, an employee who is entitled to redundancy payment shall be entitled, subject to this Act, to a weekly payment (in this Act referred to as a weekly payment) from the Redundancy Fund.

(2) The provisions of Schedule 1 shall apply to a weekly payment.

(3) The Minister may by order amend Schedule 1.

Regulations as to entitlement to weekly payment and to allowance under Industrial Training Act, 1967.

31. —(1) The Minister may by regulations provide, in relation to cases where a person is entitled to an allowance under section 9 (1) (g) of the Industrial Training Act, 1967 , and to a weekly payment, for adjusting the amount of such allowance or the amount of such weekly payment.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, regulations under this section may provide that a person to whom the regulations apply shall not be entitled to a weekly payment either at all or for a specified period.

Other payments to employees from Redundancy Fund.

32. —(1) When an employee claims that an employer is liable to pay to him a lump sum under section 19 and either that—

(a) the employee has taken all reasonable steps (other than legal proceedings) to obtain the payment of the lump sum from the employer and the employer has refused or failed to pay it or has paid part of it and has refused or failed to pay the balance, or

(b) the employer is insolvent and the whole or part of the lump sum remains unpaid,

the employee may apply to the Minister for a payment under this section.

(2) If on an application under this section the Minister is satisfied that an employee is entitled to a lump sum under section 19 which remains unpaid either in whole or in part, the Minister shall pay to the employee out of the Redundancy Fund so much of the lump sum as remains unpaid.

(3) Upon the payment by the Minister of a payment under this section all rights and remedies of the employee with respect to the lump sum concerned or, if the Minister has paid part of it, with respect to that part, shall thereupon stand transferred to and become vested in the Minister and any moneys recovered by the Minister by virtue of this subsection shall be paid into the Redundancy Fund; provided, however, that where an employer is insolvent, the Minister shall be entitled to claim in the bankruptcy, arrangement, administration of the insolvent estate or winding up (as the case may be) in respect of, and only in respect of, a sum (if any) equal to the amount of the payment made by the Minister under this section less the amount of the rebate that would have been payable to the employer from the Redundancy Fund under section 29 if the employer had paid the lump sum to the employee.

(4) For the purpose of this section an employer shall be deemed to be insolvent if—

(a) the employer has been adjudicated bankrupt, has filed a petition for arrangement or has executed a deed of arrangement (within the meaning of section 4 of the Deeds of Arrangement Act, 1887),

(b) the employer has died and his estate, being insolvent, is being administered in accordance with the rules set out in Part I of the First Schedule to the Succession Act, 1965 , or

(c) the employer is a company, and the company is insolvent and being wound up.

Regulations as to payment of contributions.

33. —(1) The Minister may make regulations providing for any matters incidental to the payment and collection of contributions under this Part and in particular for—

(a) payment of contributions by means of adhesive stamps (to be known as redundancy stamps) affixed to cards (to be known as redundancy cards) or otherwise, and for regulating the manner, times, and conditions in, at, and under which redundancy stamps are to be affixed or payments are otherwise to be made;

(b) the issue, custody, production, and surrender of redundancy cards and the replacement of redundancy cards which have been lost, destroyed, or defaced;

(c) treating, for the purpose of any right under this Act, contributions paid after the due dates as paid on those dates or on such later dates as may be prescribed, or as not having been paid;

(d) the recovery (without prejudice to any other remedy), on prosecutions brought under this Act, of contributions;

(e) the return, subject to any conditions, restrictions and deductions specified in the regulations, of any sums paid in error by way of contributions.

(2) Regulations may be made under this section to provide for the payment of contributions by a method other than redundancy stamps, and such regulations may provide for offences and for the recovery on summary conviction of such offences of fines not exceeding specified amounts not exceeding fifty pounds, together with, in the case of continuing offences, further such fines in respect of each of the days on which the offences are continued.

(3) Regulations under this section may provide for the payment of contributions, at the option of the person liable to pay, by a method (hereinafter referred to as the other method) other than a method mentioned in subsection (1) or (2) and, if the other method involves any departments of State in greater administrative expense than would be incurred if the contributions were paid by the method prescribed in regulations made under subsection (1) or (2), the regulations under this subsection may include provision for the payment to the Minister by any person who adopts the other method, and for the recovery by the Minister, of prescribed fees.

(4) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of the fees referred to in subsection (3) and all such fees shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs from time to time and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of that Minister.

Preparation and issue of redundancy stamps, etc.

34. —(1) Subject to subsection (2), redundancy stamps shall be prepared and issued in such manner as the Revenue Commissioners, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, may direct, and the said Commissioners may, by regulations made by them, provide for applying, with the necessary adaptations, in relation to redundancy stamps, all or any of the provisions (including penal provisions) of the following enactments—

sections 21, 35 and 36 of the Inland Revenue Regulations Act, 1890, the Stamp Duties Management Act, 1891, section 9 of the Stamp Act, 1891 and section 65 of the Post Office Act, 1908,

and may, with the consent of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, provide for the sale of redundancy stamps through the Post Office.

(2) The Government may by order provide that any powers and duties of the Revenue Commissioners with reference to redundancy stamps shall be exercised and performed by the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, either to the exclusion of the Revenue Commissioners or concurrently with the Revenue Commissioners, and any such order may contain such provisions as appear to the Government to be necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the exercise and performance of the duties to which such order relates in the manner provided by such order.

Persons employed by more than one employer, etc.

35. —(1) In relation to persons who—

(a) are employed by more than one employer in any week, or

(b) work under the general control or management of some person other than their immediate employer,

and in relation to any other cases for which it appears to the Minister that special provision is needed, regulations may provide that for the purposes of this Act the prescribed person shall be treated as their employer.

(2) Regulations made relating to persons mentioned in subsection (1) (b) may provide for adjusting the rights between themselves of the person prescribed as the employer, the immediate employer and the persons employed.

Regulations for Part III.

36. —(1) The Minister may make regulations for giving effect to this Part.

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), regulations under this section may make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters :

(a) requiring an employer entitled to a rebate to make a claim therefor and prescribing the time within which such a claim is to be made;

(b) requiring an employer who has made a claim for a rebate to produce such evidence and other information as may be prescribed and to produce for examination on behalf of the Minister such documents as may be prescribed and are in that employer's custody or under his control;

(c) requiring, in connection with an application made to the Minister under section 32, the employer concerned to produce for examination on behalf of the Minister such documents as may be prescribed and are in the employer's custody or under his control;

(d) requiring an employee who is entitled to a weekly payment to make a claim therefor in the prescribed manner, within the prescribed time and at the prescribed place;

(e) prescribing the method, time and place for the making of weekly payments.

(3) A person who fails to comply with a regulation under subsection (2) (b) or (2) (c) or who, in relation to a regulation requiring information, furnishes false information shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.