European Communities (Social Welfare) Regulations, 1995

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 25/1995
• Year: 1995

S.I. No. 25 of 1995.
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (SOCIAL WELFARE) REGULATIONS, 1995.
The Minister for Social Welfare, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 92/85/EEC of 19 October, 1992* insofar as it relates to entitlement to an adequate allowance for pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding, hereby makes the following Regulations:
PART I General
	1 Citation.	1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Social Welfare) Regulations, 1995.
	2 Interpretation.	2. In these Regulations, "the Principal Act" means the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1993 (No. 27 of 1993).
	3 Commencement.	3. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 30th day of January, 1995.
	4 Revocation.	4. The European Communities (Social Welfare) Regulations, 1994 ( S.I. No. 312 of 1994 ) are hereby revoked.
	5 Saver.	5. (1) A health and safety benefit which, by virtue of the provisions of the European Communities (Social Welfare) Regulations, 1994 is payable immediately before the commencement of these Regulations, shall, notwithstanding article 4 of these Regulations, continue to be paid for as long as the conditions contained in the said Regulations continue to be fulfilled.
(2) The European Communities (Social Welfare) Regulations, 1994 shall continue to have effect for the purposes of this article.
*O.J. No. L348/1 28.11.1992, p14-20.
PART II Health and Safety Benefit
	6 Health and Safety Benefit.	6. The Principal Act shall have effect as if modified by the insertion after Chapter 8 of Part II of the following Chapter:
"Chapter 8A
Health and Safety Benefit
Entitlement to benefit.
41A. (1) In this Chapter—
'confined' and 'confinement' have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 41;
'relevant period' has the meaning assigned to it by section 18 (6) of the Maternity Protection Act, 1994 (No. 34 of 1994).
(2) Subject to this Act, a woman shall be entitled to health and safety benefit, if—
( a ) it is certified by a registered medical practitioner or otherwise to the satisfaction of the Minister that it is to be expected that she will be confined or that she has been confined, as the case may be, in a week specified in the certificate,
( b ) it is certified by her employer, in accordance with section 18 (2) of the Maternity Protection Act, 1994 , that she has been granted leave under section 18 of the said Act (hereafter in this Chapter referred to as 'health and safety leave'), and
( c ) she satisfies the conditions in section 41 B.
(3) For the purposes of this Chapter—
( a ) any two periods of health and safety leave arising in a relevant period shall be treated as one period of health and safety leave, and
( b ) a Sunday shall not in any week be treated as a day of entitlement to health and safety benefit and, accordingly, the amount payable by way of such benefit for any other day of a week shall be one-sixth of the appropriate weekly rate, subject to the total amount being paid at any time by virtue of this subsection being rounded up to the nearest 10p where it is a multiple of 5p but not also a multiple of 10p, and being rounded to the nearest 10p where it is not a multiple of 5p or 10p.
Conditions for receipt.
41B.—(1) The conditions for health and safety benefit are—
( a ) (i) that the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 13 contribution weeks in the 12 months immediately preceding the expected date of confinement or the actual date of confinement, as the case may be, or
(ii) (A) that the claimant has qualifying contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the period beginning with her entry into insurance and ending immediately before the 1st day for which health and safety benefit is claimed, and
(B) that the claimant has qualifying contributions or credited contributions in respect of not less than 39 contribution weeks in the last complete contribution year before the beginning of the benefit year which includes the 1st day for which health and safety benefit is claimed,
and
( b ) that the claimant has prescribed reckonable weekly earnings in excess of a prescribed amount...