Seanad debates

Wednesday, 27 March 2019

Protection of Employment (Measures to Counter False Self-Employment) Bill 2018: Committee Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. I wanted to ensure we are talking about the same thing. No two cases are the same. One could have two people working through an intermediary for the same organisation, one of whom may be self-employed and the other an employee. What I am saying is that the power to determine who is the employer already exists in law and within the powers of the deciding officers. We will change the law in order to enhance and extend the powers of the deciding officers, but the power to make such determinations already exists.

To take it a step further and with regard to the industry referred to by the Senator, the end user is not the person to whom a pizza is delivered. The definition of self-employed must be defined in a statutory code of practice. There is absolutely no ambiguity. One is either self-employed or one is not, although, that said, one may be self-employed and employed at the same time. However, the definition must be clear, as must the parameters that denote whether one is self-employed. It does not matter whether one goes through four companies to get one's payment at the end of the month; what matters is the governance and control of one's daily activities and the work one does. That needs to be enshrined in legislation such that there is no difference in interpretation of the rules by various judges, deciding officers or companies.

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