Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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954. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if her Department has undertaken an analysis to match skills shortages in sectors affected by Covid-19 with those with appropriate or transferable skills that are currently unemployed; if not, if such an analysis and subsequent action is planned; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7565/20]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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It is imperative that those who have lost their jobs during the pandemic receive practical supports to assist them back to work. My Department is advancing a number of significant recruitment initiatives to meet the critical staffing needs of employers who are delivering essential services to our communities. The Employer Relations Team has responded to the need to fill critical vacancies by adapting their recruitment processes to provide tailored responses to deal with the unprecedented challenges posed by COVID-19. These initiatives have been advanced in collaboration with State funded training agencies and employer representative organisations.

In the healthcare sector, my Department, in collaboration with Skillnet Ireland and Nursing Homes Ireland, matched 50 qualified healthcare assistants to individual nursing homes. A further 187 people availed of online training via the Healthcare Assistant Induction Programme (HAIP). This training programme is a new employment response to give participants a thorough grounding in the basics of healthcare. It is delivered online over three weeks, via interactive virtual classrooms funded by Skillnet Ireland.

Furthermore, my Department has worked with more than 40 employers in the horticulture sector, particularly those engaged as fruit producers, and has made over 2,400 referrals. This is in addition to jobseekers who have contacted these employers directly as a result of the online Help2Harvest campaign.

Further Education and Training (FET) plays a critical role in the labour market activation response and in upskilling and reskilling those who have been displaced as a result of economic downturn. Building and sustaining skills in the labour force will require a key focus as the labour market recovers, with a particular emphasis on skills which will be in demand.

SOLAS are working in partnership with officials in my Department to develop an agile response which brings together and builds on existing FET expertise and resources to provide the recently unemployed cohort with the ‘Skills to Compete’ in the labour market. The aim is to maximise an individual’s potential for re-entry to sustainable work by developing skills, building digital capabilities and providing specific courses targeting growth sectors and occupations, and linking this to advice and supports tailored to the individual. This initiative complements other resources and structures, such as the Regional Skills Fora, to effectively match individuals and prospective employers. Using local labour market intelligence, responses can be adapted to meet regional needs and challenges.

I have also established a Labour Market Advisory Council (LMAC) which comprises an independent group of industry leaders and labour market experts, having been originally established as the Labour Market Council in 2013. The Advisory Council will provide advice to Government to support labour market and business recovery and is currently developing proposals outlining the required public policy responses that will assist the retraining and re-employment of those who have been disrupted by the pandemic.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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955. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the obligation of employers regarding the selection of staff for lay-offs during the Covid-19 lockdown with particular reference to obligations to inform staff of the methods used. [7574/20]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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Dismissal in circumstances where a genuine redundancy situation exists is regarded as one of the fair reasons for dismissal under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2015. However, unfair selection for redundancy is regarded as an unfair dismissal under those Acts.

When selecting a particular employee for redundancy, an employer is required to apply selection criteria which are reasonable and are applied in a fair manner. Employers must follow agreed procedures when making the selection. In instances where there is no agreed procedure in relation to selection for redundancy, the employer must act fairly and reasonably.

Employment equality legislation also prohibits selection for redundancy that is based on any of the following grounds: gender, civil status, family status, age, disability, religious belief, race, sexual orientation or membership of the Traveller Community.

A key issue in respect of selection for redundancy is that the selection process must be seen to be fair and non-discriminatory. If an employee considers that he or she has been unfairly dismissed, he or she may apply to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for a hearing by a WRC Adjudication Officer of a case under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007. If the Adjudication Officer finds that the dismissal was unfair, redress can take the form of either financial compensation, re-instatement or re-engagement.

Complaints can be made on an online complaint form available at the WRC’s website www.workplacerelations.ie. The WRC’s Customer Service Section, which provides information to both employers and employees in relation to employment, equality and industrial relations rights and obligations, can be contacted at Lo-call: 1890 80 80 90 or 059-9178990.

I trust this clarifies matters for the Deputy.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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956. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the steps taken to ensure that employers cannot keep staff on indefinite lay-off in order to avoid redundancy payments at the end of a two year period. [7576/20]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The provisions of Section 12 of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (as amended) provide that an employee who has been temporarily laid-off or kept on short-time for four consecutive weeks, or for a series of six weeks within a thirteen week period of which not more than three are consecutive has an entitlement to claim redundancy from their employer.

These provisions were not considered adequate to deal with the current emergency situation. As a result of Covid-19, there have been immediate and unprecedented volumes of temporary lay-offs and short-time work and there is a very real potential for these situations to become protracted. Under the existing provisions these lay-off and short-time situations could result in a large number of redundancies in a very short period of time. Employers are obliged to pay redundancy entitlements to employees who have been temporarily laid off after the periods of time currently provided for in Section 12.

In the current emergency situation the existing timelines set out in Section 12 of the Act would have serious unintended and detrimental financial impacts on businesses and employees over a short period of time. Significant numbers of redundancies over a short period of time would have an adverse impact on the potential for a business to recover, which in turn would create many insolvency and bankruptcy situations. This will only exacerbate the risk of further job losses. Measures to assist the ongoing attachment between employees and their employer during the crisis is important.

For these reasons emergency legislation has been enacted by way of Section 29 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 to mitigate against the risks to businesses outlined above and to protect for as long as possible the attachment to employment for employees.

The existing provisions of Section 12 have effectively been suspended during the emergency period, from 13th March 2020 to 31st May 2020, in respect of an employee who has been laid off or kept on short time due to the effects of measures required to be taken by the employer in order to comply with, or as a consequence of, Government policy to prevent, limit, minimise or slow the spread of infection of Covid-19.

Extending the end date of the emergency period is provided for in legislation and an extension is currently being considered. In considering whether the end date will be extended, the Government will have regard to the principles which are set out in Section 29 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020 and in particular the need to mitigate against the increased risk of insolvencies in the event of mass redundancies over a short period of time resulting in permanent job losses.

It is important to note that an employees’ right to claim redundancy after a temporary period of lay off or short-time work has not been removed, rather it has been deferred for a temporary period in this emergency situation.