Redundancy Payments Act, 2003

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 14/2003
• Year: 2003

Number 14 of 2003
REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 2003
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Interpretation. 2. Expenses. 3. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act (Interpretation). 4. Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act (Classes of persons to which this Act applies). 5. Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act (General right to redundancy payment). 6. Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act (Dismissal by employer). 7. Amendment of section 17 of Principal Act (Notice of proposed dismissal for redundancy). 8. Amendment of section 25 of Principal Act (Employment wholly or partly abroad). 9. Amendment of section 39 of Principal Act (Redundancy Appeals Tribunal and appeals and references thereto). 10. Transitional arrangements. 11. Enhanced redundancy payments. 12. Amendment of Schedule 3 to Principal Act (Amount of lump sum). 13. Increase in penalties for certain offences. 14. Amendment of section 10 of Redundancy Payments Act 1971. 15. Amendment of section 6 of Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act 1984. 16. Repeal of section 17(4) of Employment Equality Act 1998. 17. Short title, commencement, collective citation and construction.
Acts Referred to Adoptive Leave Act 1995 1995, No. 2 Carer's Leave Act 2001 2001, No. 19 Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 1956, No. 46 Employment Agency Act 1971 1971, No. 27 Employment Equality Act 1998 1998, No. 21 Industrial Relations Act 1946 1946, No. 26 Local Government Act 2001 2001, No. 37 Maternity Protection Act 1994 1994, No. 34 National Minimum Wage Act 2000 2000, No. 5 Parental Leave Act 1998 1998, No. 30 Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Act 1984 1984, No. 21 Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Acts 1984 to 2001 Redundancy Payments Act 1967 1967, No. 21 Redundancy Payments Act 1971 1971, No. 20 Redundancy Payments Act 1979 1979, No. 7 Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2001 Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993 1993, No. 27
Number 14 of 2003
REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 2003
AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1967, TO AMEND THE REDUNDANCY PAYMENTS ACT 1971, THE PROTECTION OF EMPLOYEES (EMPLOYERS' INSOLVENCY) ACT 1984, THE SOCIAL WELFARE (CONSOLIDATION) ACT 1993 AND THE EMPLOYMENT EQUALITY ACT 1998 AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS. [15th May, 2003]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Interpretation.	1.—(1) In this Act—
	“Minister” means the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment;
	“Principal Act” means the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 .
	(2) In this Act—
	(a) a reference to a section is to a section of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended, and
	(b) a reference to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including this Act.
	Expenses.	2.— Section 5 of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993 is amended by inserting the following after subsection (5):
	“(6) There shall be paid to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment out of the Social Insurance Fund, at such times and in such manner as the Minister for Finance may direct, the sums that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment may estimate, on the basis that may be agreed upon between the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, the Minister and the Minister for Finance, to be part of the expenses incurred in carrying into effect—
	(a) the Protection of Employees (Employers' Insolvency) Acts 1984 to 2001, and
	(b) the Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2003,
	and any sums so paid shall be appropriated in aid of moneys provided by the Oireachtas for carrying into effect the Acts referred to in paragraphs (a) and (b).”.
	Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act (Interpretation).	3.—Section 2(1) of the Principal Act is amended—
	(a) by inserting the following after the definition of “business”:
	“ ‘contract of employment’ means—
	(a) a contract of service or apprenticeship, and
	(b) any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person, who is carrying on the business of an employment agency within the meaning of the Employment Agency Act 1971 and is acting in the course of that business, to do or perform personally any work or service for a third person (whether or not the third person is a party to the contract),
	whether the contract is express or implied and, if express, whether it is oral or in writing and references to ‘contract’ shall be construed accordingly;”,
	(b) by substituting the following for the definition of “employee”:
	“ ‘employee’ means a person of 16 years and upwards who has entered into or works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment and references, in relation to an employer, to an employee shall be construed as references to an employee employed by that employer and, for the purposes of this Act, a person holding office under, or in the service of, the State (including a civil servant within the meaning of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 ) shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the State or Government, as the case may be, and an officer or servant of a local authority, a harbour authority, the Eastern Regional Health Authority, the Northern Area Health Board, the East Coast Area Health Board or the South-Western Area Health Board, a health board or vocational education committee shall be deemed to be an employee employed by the authority, health board or vocational education committee, as the case may be;”,
	(c) by substituting the following for the definition of “employer”:
	“ ‘employer’ means, in relation to an employee, the person with whom the employee has entered into or for whom the employee works under (or, where the employment has ceased, entered into or worked under) a contract of employment, subject to the qualification that the person who under a contract of employment referred to in paragraph (b) of the definition of ‘contract of employment’ is liable to pay the wages of the individual concerned in respect of the work or service concerned shall be deemed to be the individual's employer;”,
	and
	(d) by inserting the following after the definition of “lay-off”:
	“ ‘local authority’ means a county council, a city council or a town council for the purposes of the Local Government Act 2001 ;”.
	Amendment of section 4 of Principal Act (Classes of persons to which this Act applies).	4.—Section 4 of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for subsection (2):
	“(2) This Act shall apply to an employee employed in employment which would be insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993 but for the fact that the employment concerned is an excepted employment by virtue of paragraph 2, 4 or 5 of Part II of the First Schedule to that Act.”.
	Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act (General right to redundancy payment).	5.—Section 7(2) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting “for one or more reasons not related to the employee concerned” after “if”.
	Amendment of section 9 of Principal Act (Dismissal by employer).	6.—Section 9(1) of the Principal Act is amended by substituting the following for paragraph (b):
	“(b) where, under the contract under which the employee is employed by the employer the employee is employed for a fixed term or for a specified purpose (being a purpose of such a kind that the duration of the contract was limited but was, at the time of its making, incapable of precise ascertainment), that term expires or that purpose ceases without being renewed under the same or similar contract, or”.
	Amendment of section 17 of Principal Act (Notice of proposed dismissal for redundancy).	7.—Section 17 of the Principal Act is amended—
	(a) in subsection (1), by deleting:
	“and send to the Minister a copy of that notice”,
	(b) in subsection (2), by substituting the following for paragraphs (b) and (c):
	“(b) the method of service of the notice.”,
	and
	(c) by inserting the following after subsection (2):
	“(2A) A notice under this section, a redundancy certificate and a claim for a rebate under section 36 may be combined in one document.”.
	Amendment of section 25 of Principal Act (Employment wholly or partly abroad).	8.—Section 25 of the Principal Act is amended—
	(a) in subsection (2), by substituting “the employee was insurable for all benefits under the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993 or would have been insurable for all such benefits but for the fact that the employment concerned was an excepted employment by virtue of paragraph 2, 4 or 5 of Part II of the First Schedule to that Act and the employee” for “he was domiciled in the State and”, and
	(b) by inserting the following after subsection (2):
	“(2A) An employee who under a contract of employment has worked outside the State and was working in the State for at least two years immediately prior to the date of termination of the employment concerned shall be entitled to...