Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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204. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the former workers in a company (details supplied) will be eligible for the special payment announced by him on 21 September 2021 for employees made redundant who have lost reckonable service while in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment or another jobseeker's payment during the pandemic. [46532/21]

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Reckonable service is service that is included in the calculation of a redundancy lump sum payment. The existing provisions of the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 provide that a period of lay-off within the final three years of employment before redundancy is not allowable as reckonable service.

Therefore, as matters stand employees who have been laid-off due to Covid-19 restrictions, and in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) or an equivalent jobseeker’s payment, would not have this period allowed to be counted towards reckonable service in the event that they have already been, or will be made redundant within the next 3 years.

Because the necessary Government-enforced lockdowns caused layoff situations which resulted in this loss of reckonable service for some employees, the State will make a payment in respect of periods of layoffs due to Covid-19 in situations of redundancy.

The payment will apply to workers who have been, or who will be made redundant in the next 3 years, and who have lost reckonable service due to layoffs caused by Covid-19 restrictions, and who were in receipt of PUP or other jobseeker’s payment for the period up to 30th September 2021, the date Section 12A of the Redundancy Payments Act will expire.

The amount an eligible worker will receive will depend on the length of time they were placed on layoff due to Covid-19 before the date they were made redundant.

It is expected that the application process will open in the first half of 2022. It is only at the application stage that the Department of Social Protection will be in a position to determine any worker’s eligibility for this payment, based on the information provided in the application.