Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ellis for raising the matter. I share his concern at the worrying situation that has evolved. I hope the concerns of the employees can be addressed to their satisfaction quickly and that they can end the sit-in. NERA met with representatives of the employees last Friday and informed them of their rights, entitlements and means of redress. NERA has also provided continuing contact details and is in active contact not only with the employees but with the employer to resolve the situation.

Deputy Ellis raised the issue of workers' rights. Ireland has a significant body of employment rights which are enshrined in legislation, including the Payment of Wages Act 1991, which contains protections for employees and provides a means of redress for employees who have not received their full wages from an employer. Non-payment of wages or any deficiency in the amount of wages properly payable by an employer to an employee on any occasion will be regarded as an unlawful deduction from wages unless the deficiency or non-payment is attributable to an error of computation. The Payment of Wages Act 1991 provides for a right of complaint to a rights commissioner for any employee who has not received his or her wages or who has had an unlawful deduction made. A complaint must be presented to a rights commissioner using the prescribed form within six months of the deduction or non-payment giving rise to the complaint. I understand that at this point no such application has been made in this case.

A number of other employee rights come into play in the circumstances of the closure of a business, including minimum notice and redundancy rights. Under the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts, an employee with a minimum of 13 weeks' service with an employer is entitled to notice of termination of employment. The length of the notice to which an employee is entitled is dependent on length of service and can range from one week's notice for an individual with less than two years' service up to eight weeks' notice where an employee has more than 15 years' service. Where an employer is unable or fails to provide the appropriate notice, such employer may make a payment in lieu of the notice. An employee who does not receive the minimum notice to which he or she is entitled may take a case to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Under the Protection of Employment Act 1977, companies proposing collective redundancies - i.e. those in which at least 20 people are employed - must enter into consultations with the employee representatives at least 30 days before anyone receives notice of redundancy. They must also notify the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation of the proposed redundancies at least 30 days before any employee receives notice of redundancy. Consultation with the employee representatives and the notification period for the Minister can run concurrently. I understand that no notice of redundancy has been served by the employer in this case.

In accordance with the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2012, employees who have at least two years' continuous service with an employer are generally entitled to a statutory redundancy payment in the event of being made redundant. The administration of the redundancy payments legislation is within the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, who has advised that it is the responsibility of the employer to pay statutory redundancy to all eligible employees. However, where an employer can prove to the satisfaction of the Department of Social Protection that he or she is unable to pay statutory redundancy to his or her eligible employees, the Department will make lump sum payments directly to those employees. Such payments are made from the Social Insurance Fund and result in a debt being raised against the employer which the Department of Social Protection will seek to recover. Where an employer either fails to comply with his or her redundancy payment obligations or where there is a dispute regarding redundancy entitlements, claims may be referred by the employee to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

Where an employer is legally insolvent and, as a result, defaults on payment of wages and other entitlements, an employee may also be entitled to seek redress from the State under the insolvency payments scheme. These payments also cover overtime, holiday pay, sick pay, etc. In these circumstances, redundancy payment entitlements may also be met from the social insurance fund. I have been informed by the Minister for Social Protection that she has received no formal notifications from the company. A company may be put into liquidation by its members. An alternative is that the company's creditors may apply to the courts to have the company put into liquidation. Employees owed wages or other payments count as creditors and would be entitled to apply to have the company put into liquidation.

If the employees and the employer agree that conciliation or another form of intervention might assist in resolving some of the difficulties they are facing, the State's industrial relations machinery is available to assist in this dispute if required. Often, what appear to be the most intractable disputes are capable of resolution where both sides engage constructively and in good faith in this voluntary process. The principle of good faith implies that both sides in a dispute make every effort to reach an agreement and endeavour through genuine and constructive negotiations to resolve their differences. Ireland's system of industrial relations is, essentially, voluntary in nature, and responsibility for the resolution of industrial disputes between employers and workers, whether in redundancy or other collective disputes, rests with the employer, the workers and their representatives. However, the State provides an industrial relations dispute settlement mechanism to support parties in their efforts to resolve their differences. All of the agencies and bodies under the remit of my Department remain available to the parties should this be of assistance.

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