Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 23:

In page 12, line 20, after "payment" to insert "by the employer".

This is a technical amendment to section 9(3)(a) of the Bill, which provides for a substitute provision for section 7(1)(c) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 relating to enhanced compensation, in which an employee takes a successful unfair dismissals case following the issuing of a Labour Court opinion that the dismissal was one of a number of dismissals included in an exceptional collective redundancy situation. This amendment clarifies that it is the employer who is responsible for payment of any enhanced compensation awarded under the amended section 7(1) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977. While this is the position at present under the Act, it required clarification in this instance.

The amendment is also necessary to provide that the concluding phrase of section 7(1) of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 would also apply to the enhanced compensation provision in the amended section 7(1)(c) of that Act in the same way that applies currently to compensation provisions under that Act. This concluding phrase provides that where there is a reference to the word "employer" in the provisions on redress for unfair dismissal, these references will be understood to be references to the new owner in a change of ownership scenario. This is the reason the amendment is necessary.

See this speech in context