Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

It would. If employers are not willing to fill it out, then people entitled to the payment are not able to get it. There are other ways in which employees could prove entitlement, such as the use of payslips and so on, which would allow them to demonstrate they have been working. There is a three-month or more requirement. The Minister could have the option for it to be weekly, fortnightly or monthly assessed, where employers might be more willing. For example, an employer could state the person worked for a week for the required 19 hours or for the required hours in a month, because they might be reluctant to commit themselves for the year. Of course, that is a separate issue as employers should not have people on these low-hour precarious contracts.

Given the Minister has not banned these practices, there should be some mechanism which allows employees to prove in another way that they fit the criteria. Alternatively, we could change the assessment to allow it to be done on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis, where the employer might be more willing to sign the form stating this person worked the required hours over a period.

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