Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act
Extension of the Emergency Period
Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Regina Doherty, announced last week that the suspension of rights to claim redundancy under the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act, 2020 are to be extended until August 10, 2020.
Key features of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act relating to redundancy include:
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An amendment to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 providing for situations where Employees who have been temporarily laid off or kept on short time as result of COVID-19 not being entitled to claim redundancy after 4 weeks on lay off or short time, as would have previously being permitted.
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Instead Employees will only be able to claim redundancy after the expiry of the 'emergency period', which was laid out in the Act as existing until May 31, 2020 and for which the provision relating to redundancy has now been extended until August 10, 2020.
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It is important to note that the Employee’s right to claim redundancy has not been removed, but deferred for the emergency period in circumstances of temporary lay-off or short-time employment.
Changes to the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme
The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, announced last week that a change to the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) will be made to accommodate the salaries of those who have returned to work after a period of maternity or adoptive leave and who may not have been on the payroll of their employer on 29 February, or been paid in either January or February 2020.
While amendments will be made to the legislation later in the year as part of the usual Finance Bill 2020 process, Revenue have confirmed that the necessary processes to enable Employers to receive appropriate subsidy payments in respect of affected Employees are expected to be operational from 12 June 2020.
This change will require manual operation, but it has been noted that the system updates are ongoing and should be operational from 12 June 2020. Retrospection will apply from 26 March for Employees who were retained on payroll by their Employers, which will be implemented as quickly as possible by Revenue. Employers are encouraged to contact Revenue when the update is launched so that the process of including these Employees’ salaries may begin as quickly as possible.
Disclaimer - The information in this section is provided to assist Employers on the implementation of the Government Schemes and must be read in the context of the scheme details from Revenue or appropriate government websites and should not be interpreted as a legal definition of any of the information provided. The information is changing constantly and any information provided is correct of June 1, 2020 and is per information on the Revenue website and Government website as of that date.