S.I. No. 126/1976:

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS (WEEKLY PAYMENTS) ORDER, 1976.

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS (WEEKLY PAYMENTS) ORDER, 1976.

I, MICHAEL O'LEARY, Minister for Labour, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 30 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 (No. 21 of 1967), as amended by section 19 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1971 (No. 20 of 1971), hereby make the following order with respect to which, pursuant to section 5 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 , a draft has been laid before each House of the Oireachtas and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each such House.

1. This Order may be cited as the Redundancy Payments (Weekly Payments) Order, 1976.

2. This Order shall come into operation on the 21st day of June, 1976, and shall apply only to a person who commences on or after that date a period of interruption of employment.

3. In this Order--

"the Act of 1971" means the Redundancy Payments Act, 1971 (No. 20 of 1971);

"the Order of 1974" means the Redundancy Payments (Weekly Payments and Lump Sum) Order, 1974 ( S.I. No. 82 of 1974 );

"the Principal Act" means the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 (No. 21 of 1967).

4. Schedule 1 to the Principal Act, as amended by the Act of 1971 and the Order of 1974, is hereby amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 2:

"2. (1) ( a ) In this subparagraph 'the total amount being paid in respect of a week to a person' means--

(i) in the case of a person normally resident in the State, the total amount being paid to him in respect of the following in a period of interruption of employment commencing on or after the 21st day of June, 1976--

a weekly payment,

unemployment benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976,

unemployment assistance under the Unemployment Assistance Acts, 1933 to 1976,

pay-related benefit under the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973 (No. 2 of 1973)

together with the weekly equivalent (as determined by the Revenue Commissioners) of any refund of income tax which was paid as a result of that interruption of employment,

(ii) in the case of a person normally resident in Northern Ireland, the total amount being paid to him in respect of the following in a period of interruption of employment commencing on or after the 21st day of June, 1976--

a weekly payment,

unemployment benefit under the National Insurance Measures (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1976,

supplementary benefit under the Supplementary Benefits Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1969,

together with the weekly equivalent (as determined by the appropriate authority for income tax in Northern Ireland) of any refund of income tax which was paid as a result of that interruption of employment.

( b ) (i) Subject to subclause (ii) of this subparagraph, the total amount being paid in respect of a week to a person shall not exceed 85 per cent of his average net weekly earnings or £50, whichever is the lesser, but he shall not receive in respect of unemployment benefit, unemployment assistance, pay-related benefit or supplementary benefit less than that to which he would, but for this Act, have been entitled.

( b ) (ii) Subclause (i) of this subparagraph shall not apply to a person, who, for the time being, is employed on short-time whereby he works on a lesser number of days in a working week than is normal to the working week in that employment and whose basic earnings are reduced as a result.

(2) ( a ) In this subparagraph the total amount being paid in respect of a week to a person means--

(i) In the case of a person normally resident in the State, the total amount being paid to him in respect of the following in a period of interruption of employment commencing on or after the 21st day of June, 1976,--

a weekly payment,

disability benefit under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976,

maternity allowance under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976,

pay-related benefit under the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973,

(ii) in the case of a person normally resident in Northern Ireland, the total amount being paid to him in respect of a week in respect of the following in a period of interruption of employment commencing on or after the 21st day of June, 1976,--

a weekly payment,

sickness benefit under the National Insurance Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1976,

maternity allowance under the National Insurance Measures (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1976,

supplementary benefit under the Supplementary Benefits Acts (Northern Ireland) 1966 to 1969.

( b ) The total amount being paid to a person in respect of a week shall not exceed 100 per cent of his normal weekly remuneration or £50, whichever is the lesser, but he shall not receive in respect of disability benefit, sickness benefit, maternity allowance, pay-related benefit or supplementary benefit less than that to which he would, but for this Act, have been entitled.

(3) For the purpose of subparagraph (1) of this paragraph, a person's average net weekly earnings shall be calculated by--

(i) ascertaining his reckonable earnings (within the meaning of the Social Welfare Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973 ) for his relevant employment period,

(ii) subtracting from those reckonable earnings the amount of income tax deducted from those reckonable earnings and the employee's portion (if any) of the amount of pay-related contributions payable by him in respect of those earnings,

(iii) dividing the remainder under clause (ii) by the number of complete weeks in his relevant employment period, and

(iv) deducting from the quotient under clause (iii) the employee's portion (if any) of the employment contribution which was payable by an employee in the employment in which that person was employed in the last week of his relevant employment period.

(v) In the case of a person whose entry into insurance under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976, occurs after the 6th day of April in the relevant employment period, the following shall be substituted for clause (iii) of this subparagraph:

'(iii) dividing the remainder under clause (ii) by the number of complete weeks from his entry into insurance under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976, to the termination of his relevant employment period, and'

(vi) In the case of a person who was employed outside the State during his relevant employment period (other than a person who continued to be insured under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976, while so employed), the following shall be substituted for clause (iii) of this subparagraph:

'(iii) dividing the remainder under clause (ii) by the number of complete weeks during which he was insurably employed under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976, during his relevant employment period, and,'

(vii) In the case of a person who did not receive reckonable earnings (within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973) on or after the last day of the first week of his relevant employment period the following shall be substituted for clauses (i) and (iii) respectively of this subparagraph,

' (i) ascertaining his reckonable earnings (within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973) in the income tax year preceding that in which his relevant employment period falls,

(iii) dividing the remainder under clause (ii) by 52, and '.

(viii) In the case of a person (other than a person referred to in clause (vi) of this subparagraph) who proved unemployment or incapacity for work for at least six days since the commencement of his relevant employment period, or in the case of a person referred to in clause (vii) of this subparagraph, in the preceding income tax year, the amount of benefit or unemployment assistance (or of both benefit and such assistance) paid to him under the Social Welfare Acts, 1952 to 1976, and the Unemployment Assistance Acts, 1933 to 1976, in respect of such unemployment or incapacity (or in respect of both such unemployment and such incapacity) shall be added to the amount ascertained under clause (i) of this subparagraph, but the amount of any benefit paid to him in respect of incapacity for work for any period in respect of which he also received from his employer reckonable earnings (within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Pay-Related Benefit) Act, 1973) shall not be so added.

(ix) For the purposes of this subparagraph, a person's relevant employment period shall be that period commencing on the 6th day of April of the appropriate income tax year and ending on the date in that year in which he becomes unemployed.

(x) For the purposes of subclause (iv) of this subparagraph, "employment contribution" has the meaning assigned to it by the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (No. 11 of 1952), and includes, where appropriate, a redundancy contribution and also a health contribution within the meaning of section 2 of the Health Contributions Act, 1971 (No. 21) of 1971), at the rate specified in section 3 (1) (a) of that Act.

(4) For the purpose of subparagraph (1) of this paragraph, where an initial payment of a refund of income tax paid as a result of a period of interruption of employment has been made to a person, it shall be presumed that he will continue to receive the weekly equivalent of that refund (as determined by the appropriate authority for income tax) until his entitlement to such refunds is exhausted or he resumes employment, whichever first occurs.

5. Schedule 3 to the Principal Act, as amended by the Act of 1971 and the Order of 1974, is hereby amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 2A:

"2. Subject to paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 but notwithstanding any other provision of this Schedule, that part of a person's earnings in excess of £2,500 per annum shall not be taken into account for the purpose of assessing entitlement to redundancy payment".

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 20th day of June, 1976.

MICHAEL O'LEARY

Minister for Labour.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order provides that a redundant worker's income from weekly redundancy payments, when aggregated with Social Welfare benefits or assistance, and refunds of income tax, shall not exceed 85% of his average net weekly earnings which he enjoyed prior to unemployment. The Order also adjusts the limit of payments in aggregate to those in receipt of Disability Benefit and Maternity Allowance.

The Order does not affect those who commenced a period of interruption of employment before 21 June, 1976.