Redundancy Payments Act, 1979

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 7/1979

• Full Act
• Act by Section
• Act As Enacted
• Amendments
• PDF annotated
• PDF unannotated

---

Number 7 of 1979

---

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1979

REVISED

Updated to 1 February 2019

---

This Revised Act is an administrative consolidation of the Redundancy Payments Act 1979. It is prepared by the Law Reform Commission in accordance with its function under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975 (3/1975) to keep the law under review and to undertake revision and consolidation of statute law.

All Acts up to and including Local Government Act 2019 (1/2019), enacted 25 January 2019, and all statutory instruments up to and including Brown Crab (Conservation Of Stocks) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 26 of 2019), made 1 February 2019, were considered in the preparation of this Revised Act.

Disclaimer: While every care has been taken in the preparation of this Revised Act, the Law Reform Commission can assume no responsibility for and give no guarantees, undertakings or warranties concerning the accuracy, completeness or up to date nature of the information provided and does not accept any liability whatsoever arising from any errors or omissions. Please notify any errors, omissions and comments by email to

revisedacts@lawreform.ie.

---

Number 7 of 1979

---

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1979

REVISED

Updated to 1 February 2019

---

Introduction

This Revised Act presents the text of the Act as it has been amended since enactment, and preserves the format in which it was passed.

Related Legislation

Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2014: this Act is one of a group of Acts included in this collective citation, to be construed together as one (Local Government Reform Act 2014 (1/2014), s. 1(19)). The Acts in this group are:

• Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (21/1967)

• Redundancy Payments Act 1971 (20/1971)

• Redundancy Payments Act 1973 (11/1973) (not amended)

• Redundancy Payments Act 1979 (7/1979)

• Protection of Employees (Employer’s Insolvency) Act 1984 (21/1984), s. 12

• Social Welfare Act 1990 (5/1990), ss. 26, 27 and 29

• Worker Protection (Regular Part-Time Employees) Act 1991 (5/1991), in so far as it relates to the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990

• Social Welfare Act 1991 (7/1991), s. 39 other than subs. (2)

• Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (45/2001), in so far as it relates to the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990

• Redundancy Payments Act 2003 (14/2003)

• Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 (27/2007), insofar as it relates to the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2003

• Social Welfare Act 2011 (37/2011), Part 3

• Social Welfare Act 2012 (43/2012), Part 3

• Local Government Reform Act 2014 (1/2014), s. 1(19) and the amendment to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 provided for in s. 5(6) and sch. 2 part 6

Annotations

This Revised Act is annotated and includes textual and non-textual amendments, statutory instruments made pursuant to the Act and previous affecting provisions.

An explanation of how to read annotations is available at

www.lawreform.ie/annotations.

Material not updated in this revision

Where other legislation is amended by this Act, those amendments may have been superseded by other amendments in other legislation, or the amended legislation may have been repealed or revoked. This information is not represented in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the amended legislation if one is available.

Where legislation or a fragment of legislation is referred to in annotations, changes to this legislation or fragment may not be reflected in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the legislation referred to if one is available.

A list of legislative changes to any Act, and to statutory instruments from 1977, may be found linked from the page of the Act or statutory instrument at

www.irishstatutebook.ie.

Acts which affect or previously affected this revision

• Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015)

• Social Welfare Act 2012 (43/2012)

• Social Welfare Act 2011 (37/2011)

• Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act 2007 (27/2007)

• Redundancy Payments Act 2003 (14/2003)

• Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (45/2001)

• National Minimum Wage Act 2000 (5/2000)

• Worker Protection (Regular Part-Time Employees) Act 1991 (5/1991)

• Social Welfare Act 1991 (7/1991)

• Social Welfare Act 1990 (5/1990)

• Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency) Act 1984 (21/1984)

All Acts up to and including Local Government Act 2019 (1/2019), enacted 25 January 2019, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

Statutory instruments which affect or previously affected this revision

• Redundancy Payments (Lump Sum) Regulations 2004 (S.I. No. 695 of 2004)

• Redundancy Payments (Lump Sum) Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 41 of 2001)

• Labour Services Act Apprenticeship Rules 1997 (S.I. No. 168 of 1997)

• Labour Services Act Apprenticeship Rules 1995 (S.I. No. 198 of 1995)

• Labour Services Act Apprenticeship Rules 1994 (S.I. No. 228 of 1994)

• Redundancy Payments (Lump Sum) Regulations 1994 (S.I. No. 64 of 1994)

• Labour Services Act Apprenticeship Rules 1993 (S.I. No. 236 of 1993)

• Redundancy Payments (Lump Sum) Regulations 1990 (S.I. No. 18 of 1990)

• Redundancy Payments (Lump Sum) Regulations 1983 (S.I. No. 108 of 1983)

• Redundancy Payments (Lump Sum) Regulations 1981 (S.I. No. 191 of 1981)

• Redundancy Payments Act, 1979 (Commencement) Order 1979 (S.I. No. 95 of 1979)

All statutory instruments up to and including Brown Crab (Conservation Of Stocks) Regulations 2019 (S.I. No. 26 of 2019), made 1 February 2019, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

---

Number 7 of 1979

---

Number 7 of 1979

---

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1979

REVISED

Updated to 1 February 2019

---

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

---

Number 7 of 1979

---

REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1979

REVISED

Updated to 1 February 2019

---

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACTS, 1967 TO 1973, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER CONNECTED MATTERS. [20th March, 1979]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

Annotations

Modifications (not altering text):

C1

Application of collectively cited Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990 not restricted (20.12.2001) by Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (45/2001), ss. 9(3) and 11(3), S.I. No. 636 of 2001.

Conditions of employment for part-time employees.

9. — ...

(3) Nothing in subsection (2) shall be construed as affecting the application of a relevant enactment, by virtue of section 8, to a part-time employee.

Part-time employees who work on a casual basis.

11. — ...

(3) Nothing in subsection (2) shall be construed as affecting the application of a relevant enactment, by virtue of section 8, to a part-time employee.

C2

Application of collectively cited Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990 (“relevant enactment” as per s. 3) extended (20.12.2001) by Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (45/2001), s. 8, S.I. No. 636 of 2001.

Application of relevant enactments.

8.— Each relevant enactment shall apply to a part-time employee in the same manner, and subject to the like exceptions not inconsistent with this section, as it applies, other than by virtue of this Act, to an employee to whom that enactment relates.

C3

Application of collectively cited Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1991 not restricted (1.04.2000) by National Minimum Wage Act 2000 (5/2000), s. 41(12), S.I. No. 96 of 2000.

Employer in financial difficulty.

41. — ...

(12) For the purposes of calculating an employee’s entitlement to a redundancy payment under the Redundancy Payments Acts, 1967 to 1991, any exemption under this section shall be ignored and the calculation made as if the employee had been paid the national minimum hourly rate of pay to which he or she was otherwise entitled under this Act, for the period of the exemption.

C4

Application of collectively cited Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990 extended (1.05.1997) by Labour Services Act Apprenticeship Rules 1997 (S.I. No. 168 of 1997), rl. 7(1).

Dismissal

7. (1) Subject to 7 (2), no employer shall dismiss any apprentice save in strict accordance with the provision of the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 and 1993, the Protection of Employment Act 1977, the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973, and the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990.

C5

Application of collectively cited Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 1990 (‘relevant enactment‘ as per s. 1) extended (17.06.1991) by Worker Protection (Regular Part-Time Employees) Act 1991 (5/1991), s. 3, S.I. No. 144 of 1991.

Application of relevant enactments.

3.—Subject to section 2 of this Act and where appropriate, each relevant enactment, other than the Holidays (Employees) Act, 1973, shall apply to a regular part-time employee in the same manner as it applies, other than by virtue of this Act, to an employee to whom that enactment relates.

Editorial Notes:

E1

Collectively cited Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2014 included in definitions of “employment enactment” and “relevant enactment” (1.08.2015) by Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 2 and sch. 1 part 2 item 1, S.I. No. 338 of 2015, with the following effects:

• Authorised officers or inspectors under employment enactments deemed to be appointed under Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 26(2) and subject to termination under s. 26(4).

• Powers of inspectors for purposes of relevant enactments defined in Workplace Relations Act 2015 (16/2015), s. 27.

• Workplace Relations Commission, an inspector or an adjudication officer authorised to disclose employer’s registered number or employee’s PPSN to enable Labour Court to perform functions under relevant...