Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have another question for the Minister. Is it legal for companies to have contacted their workers and told them that they were going to pay them themselves? I have had a couple of phone calls from people who were working part-time. They were earning approximately €100 a week through college to earn extra money for college and their companies would not release them for the Covid payment but indicated they would pay them themselves. Do those companies receive the sum of €350 for such employees because the employees to whom I was talking did not receive the €350 through their company? They received €100. I want to know whether those companies received the sum of €350 and gave their employees €100. Have they used that money to top up the manager's wages or executive wages within that company? If they have done that, can they be made accountable for what they have done? If those companies are closed and they are using the pandemic payment to pay managerial wages at the cost of the employees, they should be brought to task.

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