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7 1942

INSURANCE (INTERMITTENT UNEMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1942

PART IV.

Supplementary Benefit.

Right to supplementary benefit and periods in respect of which it is payable.

28. —(1) Every insured person who is intermittently unemployed on any day (other than a Sunday or a public holiday within the meaning of the Conditions of Employment Act, 1936 (No. 2 of 1936), or the first day of a spell of insurable employment with the person who was his employer when such intermittent unemployment occurred) and in whose case the statutory conditions are fulfilled shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be entitled to receive payment (in this Act referred to as supplementary benefit) in respect of each hour of intermittent unemployment occurring on such day during working hours.

(2) Where the duration of a period of intermittent unemployment occurring during working hours on any day is a fraction of an hour only or is one or more hours and a fraction of an hour, supplementary benefit shall not be payable in respect of such fraction of an hour and, for the purposes of this sub-section, where two or more periods of intermittent unemployment occur during working hours on any day such periods shall be deemed to be one continuous period.

(3) In this section the expression “working hours” means, in relation to an insured person, the hours, exclusive of overtime and mealtime, during which, if there was not inclement weather, work in an insurable employment would have been performed by such insured person.

Hourly rates of supplementary benefit.

29. —Subject to the provisions of this Act, supplementary benefit in the case of an insured person of any class set out in the first column of the Third Schedule to this Act shall be at the hourly rate set out in the second column of the said Schedule opposite the mention of that class or, if another hourly rate is under this Act substituted for such first-mentioned rate, the rate for the time being so substituted.

Statutory conditions for the receipt of supplementary benefit.

30. —(1) The first condition (in this Act referred to as the first statutory condition) for the receipt of supplementary benefit in respect of intermittent unemployment by an insured person in any insurance year is that prior to the week in which such intermittent unemployment occurs at least twelve weekly contributions have been paid in respect of him as an insured person since—

(a) in case such insurance year is the first insurance year, the beginning of that insurance year,

(b) in any other case, the beginning of the insurance year next preceding the insurance year in which the intermittent unemployment occurs.

(2) The second condition (in this Act referred to as the second statutory condition) for the receipt by an insured person of supplementary benefit in respect of intermittent unemployment on any day is that the current unemployment book issued to him under the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, is in the possession of his employer on that day.

(3) The third condition (in this Act referred to as the third statutory condition) for the receipt by an insured person of supplementary benefit in respect of any period of intermittent unemployment is that the person to whom a report relating to that period is sent under the next following section has received the report within three days (or such longer period as the Minister may in a particular case accept) after the day on which the intermittent unemployment occurred and that that person has acknowledged the receipt of such report.

(4) Where the current unemployment book issued under the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, of an insured person is not in the possession of his employer on a particular day, and a local officer certifies that such book was not delivered to a local office in connection with a claim to unemployment benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, or an application for unemployment assistance under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933 (No. 46 of 1933), in respect of that day, such book shall, for the purposes of the second statutory condition, be deemed to have been in the possession of such employer on that day.

(5) In this Act the expression “the statutory conditions” means the first statutory condition, the second statutory condition and the third statutory condition.

Notification of intermittent unemployment.

31. —(1) Where a stoppage of work has occurred on any day and the employer of an insured person or such insured person claims that such stoppage constitutes intermittent unemployment, the employer shall on that day transmit to such person as the Minister may in any particular case direct or, in the absence of such direction, to a local officer a report stating that such stoppage has occurred, the duration thereof, and the nature of the weather conditions alleged to have caused it.

(2) Where an insured person claims that he has been intermittently unemployed on any day, he may send to such person as the Minister may in any particular case direct or, in the absence of such direction, to a local officer a report stating that such intermittent unemployment has occurred, the duration thereof and the nature of the weather conditions alleged to have caused it but this provision shall not be construed as relieving the employer of such person of the obligation imposed on him by sub-section (1) of this section.

(3) Where a person receives a report under this section he shall as soon as may be acknowledge the receipt thereof.

Payment of supplementary benefit by employers.

32. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act and to such directions as may be given by the Minister either generally or in any particular case, any amount or amounts of supplementary benefit to which an insured person becomes entitled shall be paid to him by his employer, and the insured person and his employer shall, in respect of each such payment, supply to the Minister such particulars, and complete and transmit such forms, including the insured person's acknowledgment of the amount received by him, as may be prescribed.

(2) An insured person who is not satisfied that the amount of supplementary benefit paid to him by his employer is the amount which he is entitled to receive under the provisions of this Act or his employer, at his request, shall be entitled to apply to an insurance officer to determine, in accordance with the provisions of this Act relating to the determination of questions as to payment of supplementary benefit, the amount of supplementary benefit to which he is entitled.

(3) Where a local officer or other person to whom a report in relation to the intermittent unemployment of an insured person has been sent in accordance with the immediately preceding section sends to the employer of such insured person a notification that he is not satisfied that the stoppage of work to which the report relates was due to inclement weather or that the other provisions of this Act governing the payment of supplementary benefit are fulfilled, or where in any case an employer is in doubt whether supplementary benefit is payable or as to the amount or rate of supplementary benefit payable the employer shall forthwith apply to an insurance officer to determine the question in accordance with the provisions of this Act relating to determination of questions as to payment of supplementary benefit.

(4) If in any case an insured person has not received payment of any supplementary benefit to which he believes he is entitled under this Act and is not satisfied that the question of his title to receive such benefit has been referred to an insurance officer under the provisions of sub-section (3) of this section he shall be entitled either to request his employer so to refer it or himself to refer the question to an insurance officer for determination.

(5) An employer who receives an insured person's request to refer a question of his title to supplementary benefit for an insurance officer's determination shall, unless he has already done so, forthwith refer the question to an insurance officer for determination.

(6) Where in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) of this section any question has to be referred to an insurance officer, the insured person shall not be entitled to receive payment from his employer under sub-section (1) of this section unless and until it is determined by the insurance officer that he is so entitled, and the employer shall not make such payment pending such determination or except in accordance therewith.

Payment of supplementary benefit by the Minister.

33. —In any special case in which the Minister is of opinion that it would be impossible or unduly burdensome for an employer to pay under the provisions of this Act the amount of supplementary benefit due to an insured person, the Minister may excuse such employer from the duty of so paying and where an employer is so excused the Minister shall pay or cause to be paid from the Supplementary Unemployment Fund any amount of supplementary benefit payable to the insured person by such employer if he were not so excused.

Repayment by the Minister of supplementary benefit paid by employers.

34. —The amount of any supplementary benefit duly paid in accordance with the provisions of this Act by an employer shall be repaid to such employer by the Minister out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund on application being made, in such manner as may be prescribed, by the employer for such repayment.

Repayments not to be made to employers from the Supplementary Unemployment Fund in certain cases.

35. —Whenever an employer makes a payment of supplementary benefit to a person not entitled to receive supplementary benefit under the provisions of this Act or in excess of the amount to which he was entitled the amount or the excess so paid shall not be repayable to the employer out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund.

Recovery of amounts improperly paid.

36. —(1) Any amount of supplementary benefit received by an insured person from his employer that is not repayable to the employer out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund by reason of the provisions of the immediately preceding section shall be repayable by such insured person to the employer on demand made in that behalf by the employer and, if not so repaid, may be recovered by the employer as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction or by deduction from any payment or payments of supplementary benefit to which such insured person subsequently becomes entitled.

(2) Every payment of supplementary benefit received by an insured person from the Minister that he was not entitled to receive under the provisions of this Act shall be repayable by him to the Minister on demand made in that behalf by the Minister and, if not so repaid, may be recovered as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction or by deduction from any payment or payments of supplementary benefit to which such insured person subsequently becomes entitled.

(3) Where under sub-section (2) of this section an amount may be deducted from the supplementary benefit to which an insured person becomes entitled it shall be the duty of an employer to make such deduction as the Minister may direct from any supplementary benefit payable to the insured person by that employer under the provisions of this Act, and to pay to the Minister any amount or amounts so deducted.

(4) Any amount paid to an employer out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund to which, under the provisions of this Act, he was not entitled shall be repayable by the employer on demand made in that behalf by the Minister and, if not so repaid, may be recovered as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction or by deduction from any amount or amounts that subsequently become payable to that employer out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund.

(5) Every sum recovered by or repaid to the Minister under the provisions of this section shall be paid into the Supplementary Unemployment Fund.

Notification to employers and insured persons of amounts improperly paid in certain cases.

37. —Where it has been determined in the manner provided in this Part of this Act that an amount paid by an employer is not repayable out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund the employer who paid the amount and the person who received it shall be informed by the insurance officer of the determination.

Umpire and courts of referees.

38. —(1) The umpire for the time being appointed and acting under and for the purposes of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, shall be the umpire for the purposes of this Part of this Act, and accordingly in this Act the expression “the umpire” means the umpire so appointed and acting.

(2) Every court of referees for the time being subsisting under and for the purposes of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, shall be a court of referees for the purposes of this Part of this Act and accordingly in this Act the expression “court of referees” means a court of referees so subsisting.

(3) There shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas to the umpire and members of courts of referees such salaries or remuneration as the Minister for Finance may determine.

Insurance officers.

39. —(1) The Minister may, with the sanction of the Minister for Finance, appoint such and so many persons as he thinks fit to be insurance officers for the purposes of this Part of this Act.

(2) In this Act, the expression “insurance officer” means a person who is either—

(a) a person appointed to be an insurance officer under sub-section (1) of this section, or

(b) a person who is an insurance officer for the purposes of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920.

(3) There shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas to insurance officers such salaries or remuneration as the Minister for Finance may determine.

Determination of questions as to the payment of supplementary benefit.

40. —(1) If any question arises—

(a) as to whether a stoppage of work in an insurable employment was due to inclement weather; or

(b) as to the fulfilment of the statutory conditions for the receipt of supplementary benefit by an insured person; or

(c) as to the title to supplementary benefit of an insured person or as to the rate or the amount of such benefit; or

(d) as to the title of an employer to repayment from the Supplementary Unemployment Fund; or

(e) as to the fulfilment of any provision of this Part of this Act relating to payment of supplementary benefit or to repayment from the Supplementary Unemployment Fund;

the question shall, subject to the provisions of this Part of this Act, be determined by an insurance officer.

(2) Where under the provisions of sub-section (1) of this section any question has been or is to be determined by an insurance officer—

(a) any person aggrieved by the determination of the insurance officer may, within twenty-four days from the date of the insurance officer's decision or within such further time as the Minister may in any particular case for special reasons allow, require the insurance officer to refer the matter to a court of referees and the insurance officer, unless he can revise his determination, shall so refer it; and

(b) the insurance officer may, if he thinks fit, instead of himself determining the question refer it to a court of referees.

(3) On any question referred to it by an insurance officer the court of referees shall make to the insurance officer such recommendations as it thinks fit and the insurance officer unless he disagrees shall give effect to those recommendations.

(4) If an insurance officer disagrees with a recommendation made by a court of referees under this section he shall refer the recommendation, with his reasons for disagreement, to the umpire.

(5) Where a recommendation has been made under this section by a court of referees any association of employers or insured persons of which a person aggrieved by the recommendation is a member, or with the consent of the court, that person may require the insurance officer to refer the question to the umpire and the insurance officer, if so required, shall refer the question accordingly.

(6) The umpire shall determine every matter referred to him under this section and his determination thereon shall be final and conclusive.

(7) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing an insurance officer or umpire or a court of referees, on new facts being brought to his or its knowledge, from reversing or revising a decision or recommendation given in any particular case.

(8) Where an insurance officer or the umpire reverses or revises a previous determination by such officer or by the umpire and the reversal or revision has the effect of refusing or decreasing the amount of supplementary benefit previously allowed such reversal or revision shall have effect in regard to such dates or hours as the insurance officer or the umpire may determine.

Expenses of persons attending before courts of referees or umpire.

41. —In any case where—

(a) a person is required to attend before a court of referees and so attends; or

(b) on an appeal to the umpire from a decision of a court of referees a person affected by the decision is requested by the umpire to attend before him on the consideration of the appeal and so attends;

that person shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas such travelling and other allowances, including compensation for loss of remunerative time, as the Minister with the sanction of the Minister for Finance may determine.

General provisions as to procedure under Part IV.

42. —(1) The Minister may by regulations—

(a) prescribe the evidence to be required as to the fulfilment of the statutory conditions and the other provisions of this Part of this Act relating to an insured person's title to supplementary benefit, and for that purpose require the attendance of insured persons at such offices or places and at such times as may be required, and require employers to answer inquiries relating to any matters in connection with which information is required to enable an insured person's title to supplementary benefit to be determined;

(b) prescribe the time, manner and form of—

(i) the payment by employers to insured persons of supplementary benefit due to them,

(ii) the repayment out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund to employers of amounts of supplementary benefit paid by them,

(iii) raising questions for determination by insurance officers,

(iv) the doing of any other thing incidental to the reporting of intermittent unemployment, the acknowledgment of the receipt of reports of intermittent unemployment, and the paying of supplementary benefit and the repayment out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund of supplementary benefit paid by employers;

(c) require employers, insured persons and others to furnish such information as the Minister may consider desirable in connection with payments of supplementary benefit and the occurrence of intermittent unemployment;

(d) prescribe the practice and procedure to be followed on the consideration and examination of questions to be considered and determined by the umpire, courts of referees and insurance officers;

(e) provide for the appointment of a person to receive, on behalf of or as representative of a person who becomes of unsound mind or dies, any sums payable out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund to or in respect of him.

(2) Regulations made by the Minister by virtue of paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of this section shall not be construed as affecting the operation of the next following section.

Additional methods of proving fulfilment of statutory conditions, etc.

43. —(1) Where supplementary benefit has been paid to an insured person in respect of any day or part thereof a certificate, in the prescribed form, signed by such insured person or the person who was the employer of such insured person on such day certifying any one or more of the following matters—

(a) that such insured person was intermittently unemployed on such day,

(b) that the hours during which such insured person was intermittently unemployed on such day were working hours,

(c) that such day was not a Sunday or a public holiday within the meaning of the Conditions of Employment Act, 1936 (No. 2 of 1936),

(d) that such day was not the first day of a spell of insurable employment with the person who was the employer of such insured person,

shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be sufficient evidence of the facts so certified, unless and until the contrary is shown to be the case.

(2) Where supplementary benefit has been paid to an insured person a certificate, in the prescribed form, by such insured person that he is the rightful holder of a particular supplementary unemployment book or a certificate, in the prescribed form, by the person who was the employer of such person at the time such supplementary benefit was paid that he is satisfied that such insured person is the rightful holder of such book shall, for the purposes of this Part of this Act, be sufficient evidence of the identity of such insured person, unless and until the contrary is shown to be the case.

(3) Where weekly contributions in respect of an insured person are paid by affixing supplementary insurance stamps to his supplementary unemployment book, and supplementary benefit has been paid to such insured person in any insurance year, the following provisions shall, for the purposes of the first statutory condition, have effect, that is to say:—

(a) a certificate, in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars, by the person (in this sub-section referred to as the employer) who was the employer of such insured person at the time such supplementary benefit was paid that, prior to the week in which occurred the intermittent unemployment for which such supplementary benefit was paid, a specified number of weekly contributions had been paid for such person in respect of such insurance year shall be sufficient evidence of the facts so certified, unless and until the contrary is shown to be the case;

(b) a certificate, in the prescribed form and containing the prescribed particulars, by the employer that there was entered, in accordance with regulations made under Part III of this Act, on the current supplementary unemployment book of such insured person a statement that a specified number of weekly contributions had been paid for such insured person in respect of the immediately preceding insurance year shall, unless and until the contrary is shown to be the case, be sufficient evidence that there were paid the number of weekly contributions so certified to be so entered.

(4) Where supplementary benefit has been paid to any insured person in respect of a particular day or part thereof, a certificate, in the prescribed form, by the person who was the employer of such person on that day, that the current unemployment book issued under the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, of such insured person was in his possession on that day shall, for the purposes of the second statutory condition, be sufficient evidence of the facts so declared, unless and until the contrary is shown to be the case.

Restriction on payment of unemployment benefit and unemployment assistance.

44. —Unemployment benefit under the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1920, or unemployment assistance under the Unemployment Assistance Act, 1933 (No. 46 of 1933), shall not be payable for a day in respect of which or part of which supplementary benefit is paid or payable under this Act.