900 workers apply for redundancy at Quinn Insurance

THERE has been rare good news for workers in Quinn Insurance after it was revealed administrators have received more than the 900 applications for redundancy which they required.

Over the next two weeks the administrators, Grant Thornton, will be assessing the applications to judge their acceptability.

They must ensure that there are not too many from particular grades or locations which would affect their ability to operate once the people left the company.

In calling for the 900 redundancies at the end of April the company said it was looking for just more than 300 redundancies in Blanchardstown, about 226 in Cavan, 179 in Enniskillen and 109 in Navan.

In confirming an over-subscription to the redundancy scheme a spokesman said they would be hopeful that they can accept sufficient voluntary redundancies to offset the need for compulsory layoffs.

Those whose voluntary redundancy applications are rubber-stamped can expect a redundancy package of four weeks’ pay per year of service plus statutory redundancy of two weeks’ per year of service plus one week.

That means that a person working for the company for seven years will receive 43 weeks’ pay.

Last month, Quinn announced that it needed to get rid of more than a third of its 2,450 workforce in order to make €30m in savings annually. It said the job cuts were to be phased over a 15-month period up to mid-2011.

Over the weekend reports were confirmed that Liberty Mutual, the fifth largest general insurer in the US, is interested in buying the insurance division of the Quinn Group.

However, the firm has not held any direct talks with Grant Thornton, and will not have the chance to do so for a number of weeks yet.

To date the number of companies interested in the company stands at 48.

Quinn’s administrators will not begin issuing interested parties with memorandums of information on the business until late next month.