Redundant workers promised faster payouts

A million-euro redundancy payments system was launched on the internet today to ensure faster payments for those who have lost their jobs.

Minister for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen said the Government’s electronic method would provide instant online access for the person and ensure a quicker turnover of applications for payouts.

Mr Killeen said: “Redundancy is a difficult time for both workers and employers and we therefore must ensure that the process of accessing redundancy entitlements is more efficient and user friendly.

“Under this new system everyone is a winner because the processing of applications by my Department is going to be simpler, more efficient and entail far fewer queries and exchanges of correspondence.”

Statutory redundancy payments, which are tax free, are made to eligible redundant employees directly by their employers.

Compensation is based on the workers’ length of service and payments are subject to a limit of €600 a week.

In 2004 there were 23,372 redundancies notified to the Department – a reduction of 16% on 2003.

However, in instances where the employer is unable to pay out the lump sum, the payment is made to the employees by the Redundancy Payments Section of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which then seeks the payout from the employer.

The Department spent m ore than €137m on employer redundancy rebates in 2004 and over €14m on direct payments to employees.

In the first three months of this year, the amount paid back to employers for redundancy stood at more than €22m, with almost €1.5m paid directly to workers.

The Minister of State at the Trade Department said: “It is in the interests of employers, liquidators and employees to use the new internet facility for making redundancy applications on the Department’s website at www.entemp.ie.”

Employers who pay out the full Statutory Redundancy Lump Sum to a redundant employee can reclaim 60% of that amount from the Department by submitting the RP50 form online in the new system.

Mr Killeen said the system would allow liquidators or receivers in a situation where companies are insolvent to easily apply for redundancy for employees on the website.

He said the other benefits of the new website included the simplified online redundancy payment calculator and combining all four of the existing forms into a single online form.

The new website system was designed by an IT company, Version1 Software, after the Government allocated a million euro from the Social Insurance Fund to modernise the redundancy payments system in 2003.