COVID-19 Information for Redundancy

During the COVID-19 Pandemic the following information may be useful to note in relation to the Redundancy Payments Scheme.

An employee can apply for a redundancy payment if they have been on temporary lay-off or short-time in accordance with Section 12 of the Redundancy Payments Act for a period of:

• four continuous weeks
• six non-continuous weeks within a thirteen-week period

During the COVID-19 emergency period from 13 March 2020 to the 30 of September 2021 this entitlement was temporarily suspended under Section 12A of the Redundancy Payment Act that was included in Section 29 of the Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2020. Section 12A of the Redundancy Payment Act expired on 30 September 2021.

Any period spent on Jobseeker's Payments or COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment is considered a temporary lay-off. Any period where an employee was laid off is not included as a period of reckonable service when calculating the statutory redundancy payment.

If the employer availed of the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) or Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and continued to pay their employees, this period is counted as reckonable service for calculating statutory redundancy.