Irish Labor Law and Social Welfare

This assignment delves into the intricacies of Irish labor law, particularly concerning collective redundancies. It outlines the criteria for eligibility based on continuous service and clarifies the process for determining redundancy percentages across different employee counts. The discussion further explores severance pay arrangements and highlights the importance of registering with social welfare offices for potential Jobseeker's benefit claims in cases of unemployment.

Running head: REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
Redundancy at windmill Lane Post Production Company
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author’s Note:

1REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Scenario Description........................................................................................................................2
Previous redundancies cases as per statutory Redundancy.............................................................3
Tax Expenditure related to redundancy treatment...........................................................................4
Social welfare, Collective Redundancy & models of calculation...................................................5
Comparison of lump of sum given in USA.....................................................................................6
Expanding tax calculation methods.................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference List................................................................................................................................10

2REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
Introduction
Windmill Lane is considered to be one of the biggest cornerstone in the creativity aspect
based in Ireland. Some of the most eminent form of the activities of the organisation are taken
into account with “filmmakers, musicians, artists & creative”. This is further able to help the
aforementioned personnel to deliver their best performance. Redundancy payment is given to an
employee who is dismissed, as the job was abolished due to some reason. Based on the
employment conditions, the employer is essential to make the relevant payment under the
industrial agreement and employment contract. Some of the examples for this includes payment
in lieu of notice, “a gratuity or golden handshake” and compensation sum for number of weeks'
pay for each year of service. Any type of payment adhering to the genuine redundancy are seen
with tax free limit based on the total years of the service with the employers. The tax-free
boundary is seen with the even dollar sum plus the amount for each year of the completed
service (Kennedy et al., 2016).
Scenario Description
As per the description of the scenario a worker is redundant in the division of VFX
department at Windmill Lane. The main reason for this situation is due to the fact that there is
not sufficient work available to the company in that particular department. In order to describe
the impact of the redundancy there has been examples included from the statutory redundancy
and tax expenditure of the redundancy treatment (Luttmer & Singhal, 2014). It needs to be
further discerned that the various treatment for the redundancy and the lump sum given is
compared with other country’s tax regimes. This particular aspect is ensured with the treatment
of the severance pay in USA, which is based on a similar concept of redundancy payment in

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Ireland. As per the “US department of Labor”, “severance pay” is granted to the workers on
termination of employment. It is considered on the span of employment for which a worker is
eligible for termination (Kennedy et al., 2015).
Previous redundancies cases as per statutory Redundancy
Some of the main form of the previous redundancy case is seen to be taken into account
with both Ireland and USA. Redundancy is seen to be a reality for several employees after the
economic downturn initiated in 2008. The important form of the redundancy payment is taken
into account with the with the “Payments Act, 1967-2007”, which legally accompanies with the
factors of the “statutory redundancy entitlement” (Saad, 2014). The amounts for the worker’s
total span of the service and the usual incomes such as “average regular overtime”, gross wages
in a week and payment in time are added together for achieving a “maximum of €600 per week”
or €31,200 per annum. As per the depiction of the previous literature it is determined that the
employee covering a minimum of 104 weeks of the continuous service is taken into
consideration for the notice in writing to the employee and the dismissal proposal. In addition to
this, in several types of the other cases it is depicted that the employer will be able to perform
adequately on his part by considering several types of the factors for the redundancy which are
seen to be based on notice of redundancy from RP50 to the employee (Rooney, 2014)
As per the various previous learnings, the disputes concerning the redundancy needs to be
submitted to the relevant “Employment Appeals Tribunal”, which will be able to deliver a fair,
informal and inexpensive means of information for the individuals to pursue their relevant rights.
In addition to this, it is seen that the tribunal is able to provide the remedies as per the alleged
violations of workers’ legal redundancy rights. The tribunal is also seen to be of the opinion that

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the disputes are now treated under the labour laws inclusive of the lowest notice and “Terms of
Employment Act 1973 to 2001”. These rights are able to cover the significant approach for the
minimum period of notice provided before the dismissal of the continuous service. This is further
seen with the same employer for a minimum of 13 weeks and in normal course anticipated to
work for a minimum of 8 hours every week. The Tribunal is seen to be of the opinion that the
employees are treated under the “Dismissals Acts, 1977 to 1993 and the protection of Employees
(Employer’s Insolvency) Acts, 1984 to 2003”. This is able to deal under the various areas
including the arrears of the pay due to employee becoming insolvent (Callan et al., 2014).
Tax Expenditure related to redundancy treatment
In general, the employees are considered under the “Redundancy Payment Act” in case
they are able to meet the criteria of being minimum of 16 years of age or more. This is seen to be
based on 2 years of continuous service or 104 weeks of the same. The employees who are seen to
be employed are further able to provide the various type of the service based on the insurable
Social Welfare benefits (Breen et al., 2016). The redundancy is seen to be a result of the genuine
redundancy situation considered with a scenario that the job no longer exists or cannot be
replaced. Employees paying the statutory redundancy is seen to be entitled for the different types
of the benefits which are considered with 15% rebate from the social insurance fund (Council,
2016). This is further regarded with the regular payments made from the PRSI aids. Due to the
high instance of the cases of redundancies in the recent years, the delay in employer receiving a
“statutory redundancy rebate” is seen to be a common practice. It need to be further ascertained
that in case a business is waiting for a particular rebate and facing problems in meeting the tax
obligations, then the total amount of the tax refund needs to be taken into account with the

5REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
employer being able to make the appropriate payment for the tax refund. This is also similar in
case of enterprise, department of jobs and revenue commissioners (McGrath, 2015)
The total amount of the lump is seen to be based on “PAYE and USC” less the basic
exemption or SCSB which were outlined previously. The employer is seen to be entitled to the
different types of the benefit for the approval from the inspector of the taxes. Due to the increase
in the overall exemption, the employer will be able to apply the same to the local tax office well
in early payment the date of approval for giving the increased exemption (Ireland, 2015).
Social welfare, Collective Redundancy & models of calculation
Collective redundancies are seen to occur in those circumstances in which the employees
are redundant in a collective period of 30 days based on situations of redundancy. This is evident
with “5 employees where 21-49 are employed”, “10 employees where 50-99 are employed”,
“10% of the employees where 100-299 are employed” and “30 employees where 300 or more are
employed”. As per the “Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and
Related Matters) Act 2007”, the redundancy panel was introduced in agreement with the
business agreement towards 2016 (Garkusha, Joyce & Lloyd, 2015). Some of the other cases of
collective redundancies are often referred to as those situations where the redundancy takes place
to replace the employees with workers who are on a lesser pay or other form of less favourable
terms and circumstances. These is further seen to be referred to as exceptional collective
redundancy (O'Connor & Staunton, 2015).
Based on the “Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Act 2006” the
employers need to consult with the workers for the considerable deviations in the work which

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includes the proposals for the collective redundancies. This act is seen to be appropriate for the
employers of more than 50 people (Hathway, 2017).
As per the social welfare payment in case an individual is seen to be unemployed then an
he/she needs to register the same with the social welfare office. In case that individual is depicted
to be having sufficient social insurance contribution then the individual may be entitled to the
relevant Jobseeker’s benefit. In case the reverse is evident then PSRI contributions needs to be
qualified with the Jobseeker’s Allowance. The main type of the application procedure needs to
be given in a minimum of 2 weeks written notice of redundancy. On the confirmation of the date
of termination, the employer needs to pay the total redundancy lump sum. In this this case, they
are not required to submit RP50 form. In case the employer has not been able to redundancy
lump sum then an individual need to apply for RP 77. In case the employer is still not able to
pay, then one can apply to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for the
purpose of the direct payment in form of the Social Insurance Fund. In case an employer is not
able to pay the redundancy lump sum then they should be able to complete same by signing a
form RP50. It is also discerned that they need to submit a letter from the accountant or the
solicitor for clearly stating the reason for non-payment of tax (Cooney, McLaughlin & Martin,
2014).
Comparison of lump of sum given in USA
As per the tax payment methods followed in USA it has been discerned that “severance
pay” is granted to the workers on their termination of the employment. It is further discerned that
in USA the “severance pay” is granted to the employees on their termination of employment. It
is usually considered with the total length of service for which the employee is eligible for

7REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
termination. In addition, this there is no specific requirement discerned for the termination of the
employees (Parsons, 2017). There is no requirement identified for “Fair Labor Standards Act
(FLSA)” for severance pay. This is also considered as per the matter of the total nature of the
agreement with the employer and employee or the representative of the employee. As per the
“Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)”, it is also discerned that the employees
who has not received the severance benefits under the employee sponsored plan (Parsons, 2017).
Expanding tax calculation methods
Statutory Lump Sum Redundancy Payments
In case an employee started working for the existing employer on 1st January 2002. Due
to slowdown in the economy, the employer decided to decrease the workers and made the
redundancy bring into effect from 31st December 2012. The present salary is further seen to be
considered as “€45,000 per annum.
As per 11 full years of service, the employee will be entitled to
11 x 2 weeks plus 1-week bonus = 23 weeks
In this particular situation the weekly salary is depicted to be €865.38. Despite of this, the
maximum amount one can receive is seen to be way the statutory payment is brought into
computation and limiting the same by €600 per week. The computation of the statutory payment
will be
23 weeks’ x €600 = €13,800 (Tax free)

8REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
It is also depicted that the aforementioned income is seen to be tax free in nature. The
bonus an employer can receive has been further seen to be discerned with the refund of 15% of
the payment. This is calculated as
15% x€13,800 = € 2,070, this has been seen in form of enterprise, department of job and
innovation.
Severance Pay
The following example is considered for an employee getting redundant in the state of
California. The total term served by him is discerned as 8 years. The age of the employees is
seen to be considered as 31 years. The nature of the job is seen as middle manager level. The
salary earned is $ 50000 and as per “U.S. Tax Laws for Severance Pay”, the employee will be
entitled for 25% of the severance pay. Based on this information the employee will be entitled
for 12 months of compensation and difference with the sum offered for the severance pay and
sum entitled to receive is $ 37,500 (Miller & Oats, 2016).
Conclusion
Based on the significant depictions made in the report redundancy is seen to be common
for several employees in Ireland after the economic downturn initiated in 2008. The important
form of the redundancy payment is taken into account with the with the “Payments Act, 1967-
2007”, which legally accompanies with the factors of the “statutory redundancy entitlement”.
The employees are considered under the “Redundancy Payment Act” in case they are able to
meet the criteria of being a minimum of 16 years of age or more. This is seen to be based on 2
years of continuous service or 104 weeks. The discussion on the collective redundancy is able to
depict that employees are redundant in a collective period of 30 days based on situations of

9REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
redundancy such as, “5 employees where 21-49 are employed”, “10 employees where 50-99 are
employed”, “10% of the employees where 100-299 are employed” and “30 employees where 300
or more are employed”. As per the social welfare payment in case an individual is seen to be
unemployed then an individual need to register the same with the social welfare office. In case
that individual is depicted to having sufficient social insurance contribution then he/she may be
entitled to the relevant Jobseeker’s benefit.

10REDUNDANCY AT WINDMILL LANE POST PRODUCTION COMPANY
Reference List
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Ireland: state, class and development in the Republic of Ireland. Springer.
Callan, T., Nolan, B., Keane, C., Savage, M., & Walsh, J. R. (2014). Crisis, response and
distributional impact: The case of Ireland. IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, 3(1),
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Ireland. Irish Tax Institute.
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Garkusha, V., Joyce, P., & Lloyd, C. S. (2015). Corporate Tax Rate and Recent Inbound and
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McGrath, M. (2015). Ireland-the best small country in the world to exploit workers?. Irish
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Parsons, D. O. (2017). Voluntary Employer-Provided Severance Pay.
Rooney, G. (2014). The effects of pending redundancy on construction workers in Ireland.