Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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102. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to a survey by an organisation (details supplied) that states that 49% of companies surveyed stated their intention to continue to pay bonuses in 2020; his views on whether companies that avail of State aid such as the temporary wage subsidy scheme should postpone the payment of bonuses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11282/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) is provided for in section 28 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020.  In the context of the need for the immediate implementation of the TWSS, the scheme necessarily had to build on data returned to Revenue through its real-time PAYE system.  The key conditions of the scheme, as prescribed in the underlying law, are that –

- the business is suffering significant negative economic impact due to the pandemic,

- the employees were on the payroll at 29 February 2020, and

- the employer had fulfilled its PAYE reporting obligations for February 2020 before, in general, 15 March 2020, but extended recently to 1 April 2020.

The latter two conditions were particularly designed with a view to preventing abuse of the scheme. 

The amount of the wage subsidy for each employee is calculated based on the average net weekly pay of the employee reported to Revenue by the employer for January and February 2020.  Bonuses, commissions and other once off payments are taken into account in the calculation, where these were included as part of gross pay in the January and February 2020 payroll submissions. 

In accordance with the TWSS legislation, no wage subsidy amount is payable for any employees with an average net weekly pay which exceeds €960 a week.  Moreover, for the duration of the scheme, any payment of wages by an employer to an employee at a level higher than the average net weekly pay,  including payment of bonuses, could result in payments exceeding various threshold limits set out in the legislation and in the determinations of rates of subsidy amount made by me as Minister for Finance.  This would lead to a tapering of the subsidy amount payable which, depending on the circumstances, could mean that no wage subsidy at all may be due.  

However, the question of an individual’s entitlements in an employment context, and the question of what wages, including bonuses, an employer may or may not be in a position to pay such an employee in the light of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the employer’s business, are matters that are outside the remit of the TWSS. The scheme has no role in relation to the employer/employee relationship in so far as the terms, conditions and entitlements of the employment are concerned.