Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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In general, a redundancy situation exists where for instance, an employer is engaged in a process of rationalisation/reorganisation, requires fewer employees to do work of a particular kind, for reasons of downsizing or company closure etc. Redundancy is therefore related to the job, not the person concerned.

Under the existing statutory redundancy legislation, an employee who is absent from work on grounds of ill-health can be made redundant provided a genuine redundancy situation exists in the employment and the employer is willing to make him/her redundant. It must be borne in mind that it is the employer who decides, in the first instance, whether or not a redundancy situation exists in the employment and who should be made redundant.

The online redundancy calculator located on the Department's website at www.entemp.ie can be used to calculate an individual's entitlement for statutory redundancy. The calculator is programmed to take into account instances of non-reckonable service such as, for example, periods of sick leave. Non-reckonable service in respect of redundancies notified/declared on or after 10th April, 2005 is applicable only to the final 3 years of service, ending on the date of termination of employment. Thus, if an employee was working in a company for a total of 22 years, the non-reckonable service applies only in respect of the last 3 years – all such absences are fully reckonable in respect of the first 19 years.