Government bids to recover €80m statutory redundancy from employers

THE Government is trying to recover a staggering €80 million from employers who said they could not or would not pay out statutory redundancy to employees they were letting go.

In spite of the size of that figure — which has been mounting steadily, particularly in the last five years — the state has been repaid just €3.6m.

Under the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967-2007, the onus, in the first instance, is on the employer to pay the statutory redundancy entitlement to employees. After paying the monies, that employer is then entitled to claim back a 60% rebate on the figure paid out.