Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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256. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason for the decision to exclude propriety owners and directors working to keep their business afloat from the new employment wage subsidy scheme in view of the fact that they were previously included in the temporary wage subsidy scheme; the reason for the change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21263/20]

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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278. To ask the Minister for Finance the reason proprietary directors and certain connected persons cannot access the new employer wage subsidy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21252/20]

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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290. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration has been given to allowing proprietary directors without employees access to the employment wage subsidy scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21823/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 256, 278 and 290 together.

The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) was legislated for in the recently enacted Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Act 2020. The EWSS provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers, based on the number of qualifying employees on the payroll.

Under the legislation as enacted, proprietary directors are not qualifying employees for the purposes of the scheme. The primary rationale behind the exclusion is that a proprietary director is a person who is the owner (or co-owner) of a company and so it is considered that such a position is much less likely to be a vulnerable employment when compared with regular workers, noting an objective of the EWSS is to maintain the relationship between employee and employer insofar as is possible.

However, as I announced at the end of July, this position has been revisited and the EWSS can be claimed by an eligible employer in respect of proprietary directors. Following the review of the matter undertaken by my Department and the Revenue Commissioners it has been agreed that the only additional qualifying criteria that will apply in the case of proprietary directors as qualifying employees is that the proprietary director has to have been paid wages which were reported to Revenue on the payroll of the eligible employer at any stage between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020. Further, it has also been agreed that where a person is a proprietary director of two or more eligible companies, a claim for EWSS can only be submitted in respect of a single company only.

The amending legislation necessary to give a statutory footing to the above will be included in the Finance Bill later this year.

In the meantime, the above will be implemented by Revenue as confirmed in both a press release that was issued on 31 Augustsee

and the updated Guidance

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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257. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to instances in which employers availing of the temporary wage subsidy scheme do not pass on the increase in the minimum wage to their employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21269/20]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The Temporary Wages Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) was legislated for in section 28 of the recently enacted Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020. Of necessity, the underlying legislation and the scheme itself were developed very quickly, having regard to the overarching, urgent Government objective of getting much needed financial assistance to employers and employees, where businesses have been seriously affected by the pandemic and the necessary restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The TWSS is predicated on the employer wanting to keep the employees on the payroll and to retain them until business picks up. The amount of the subsidy for each employee is calculated based on the average net weekly pay reported for January and February 2020. There is no distinction made regarding the subsidy amount based on whether the business has closed due to the restrictions brought in by the Government or has continued to trade with employees continuing to part-time or work full time with similar hours as before the Covid-19 pandemic.

The employer is expected to make best efforts to maintain the employee’s net income reflected in the average net weekly payment for January and February 2020, for the duration of the TWSS. There is, however, no minimum amount that the employer must pay as an additional payment in order to be eligible for the scheme, but for Revenue operational systems reasons the employer will need to enter at least €0.01 in Gross Pay when running its payroll.

I have been advised by Revenue that the question of an individual’s entitlements in an employment context, and the question of what wages 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. Essentially, 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.

The Deputy refers to the National Minimum Wage which increased to €10.10 per hour on 1 February 2020 as set out in the National Minimum Wage Order 2020. Disputes in relation to payment of the National Minimum Wage may be referred to Workplace Relations Commission.

Finally, I would add that details of subsidy payments made by pay date are available to view in each employee’s myAccount record on Revenue’s online system. This facility allows employees to see whether their employer is participating in the scheme and being refunded a wage subsidy on their behalf. Where the amount of subsidy paid is available from the relevant employer payroll submissions made to Revenue, that amount is also displayed.