Covid-19 news with a HR Twist

June 2015

Benefits and Compensation Administration

In a competitive job market compensation and benefits take on an even greater level of significance. Unfortunately, the management of such benefits can also take on an added level of complexity.

The HR Company takes the complexity back out. We take the guess-work out of decision making by surveying the marketplace and keeping you informed.

We take the headache out of administering compensation and benefits by providing you with a variety of specialised back-office services. These include everything from processing pension and medical plans to managing and organising your company’s Organisational Health Index.

Managing Compensation and Benefits in Ireland

Here is a list of some of the services we offer to assist companies with their compensation and benefits management:

 

•Pension/medical membership processing

•Salary survey, planning & administration

•Salary/Bonus/Stock system processing

•Company Car policy management

•Mortgage application processing

•Maternity/Parental Leave benefits

•Flexible benefits

•Advise on, manage and organise annual Benefits and Expo & Health Awareness Programme

•Manage & organise company OHI

•Manage Outplacement Programme

•Tailored generation of reports & statistics

 

If you require guidance or support with benefit and compensation administration then look no further than The HR Company.

 Benefits and Compensation Administration

HR support and guidance for companies in Ireland

In this era of increased employee litigation the Labour Court has thousands of cases waiting to be heard - In a huge number of these cases the employer will end up paying substantial sums in compensation to employees (or former employees). In a lot of instances the award will be made as a result of the employer failing to follow appropriate procedures when dealing with an employee.

HR support, HR advice, Irish Employment LegislationUnfortunately, the onus is on the employer to prove that he or she acted in a fair manner - the motives behind his or her decisions will be scrutinised. Everything must be justified.

On a daily basis we hear of Unfair Dismissal cases succeeding - the rulings are regularly shocking... even to Irish Employment Law professionals. We see employers being forced to pay huge sums due to the occurrence of harassment/bullying - often the employer is not even aware that such an activity is taking place - yet it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure that this type of situation does not arise in their workplace.

A recent example of harassment in the workplace occurred in a fast food company in Blackpool, Cork where two employees were subjected to sexual harassment by another employee.

An Equality Tribunal ruling found that a lesbian couple, who both worked for a fast food restaurant in Cork, were forced to endure obscene remarks and queries about their relationship and sexuality from another employee at the branch.

The tribunal found that management at the restaurant failed in their duty to take the appropriate steps to protect the women and consequently were instructed to pay €15,000 to the couple.

Under Irish Employment Legislation it is the duty of the employer to provide a workplace that is safe for lesbian women and gay men to be open about their sexuality.

Bullying/Harassment in the workplace
This is something that all employers need to pay close attention to - this kind of sum could sink a small company - we heard yesterday that Ireland's economy is receding again - We know the whole area can seem like a minefield but companies simply can't afford to be careless when it comes to employee related matters. It is crucial to keep on top of the regular updates in Legislation.

Did yo know that parental leave has recently been increased from 14 to 18 weeks?

Did you know that Maternity, Adoptive and Health and Safety Benefits are taxable as of 1st July 2013?

The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) is carrying out inspections in Irish workplaces and imposing fines where employers are in breach of Irish Employment regulations.

The employer is legally required to have contracts of employment in place with all employee who have accrued 2 months' service - employers also need to have employee handbooks in place.

Contracts of Employment, Irish Employment Legislation Without employment documentation and clear and appropriate policies and procedures in place the company is not insulated against the risk of a fine - many employers are exposed at the minute and need some guidance to ensure they are protected in the future.

We are Irish Employment Legislation specialists and are offering complimentary consultations/audits to employers in Ireland who feel that they would benefit from a meeting with one of our HR specialists.


Do not hesitate to leave us your details and we will be in touch shortly to arrange a complimentary (no-strings-attached) audit of your documentation or just a general consultation that will hopefully help your understanding of employer responsibilities.

Large businesses requiring on-site HR support

On-site HR support For organisations that require face-to-face, on-site HR support, we provide the services listed below, which have been categorised into five distinct components. Depending on the level of your requirement, we do this by either putting HR specialist(s) into your business on a permanent basis, or we provide you with full remote back-up complemented by regular site visits.

1. Legal

It is critically important that when one addresses any of the core HR activities, they must be carried out within the confines of the legal framework that exists. We will advise you to ensure that you are complying with all current legislation.

2. Mediation Services

We provide a full range of mediation services whereby we resolve many internal employee and industrial relations issues that arise within the workplace. This can include direct negotiations with solicitors, third parties and trade unions.

3. Staff Retention and Benefits

We assist you to ensure that you do what is necessary to keep your employees within the organisation. This covers the entire area of salary planning, benefits planning, benefits administration, performance management and face-to-face group meetings, or one-on-one discussions.

4. Recruitment

This involves us in the hiring process from the very beginning, from writing up job profiles and descriptions to advertising, arranging interviews, checking references, and issuing contracts.

5. Training and Development

The service we offer in this space includes identifying training requirements, driving the training programme and the training vendors, right through to succession planning, key people identification, skills identification and management development.

The Smart Solution for Businesses - We aim to ensure that you, our client, are not constrained by the legislation that exists today, but are aware of it and acting in accordance with it.

The service includes salary surveys to support your salary planning and review process, design and implementation of your policies and procedures and inclusion of these in the company handbook.

As part of this service, a company is provided with on-site representation approximately once per month.

Reminder for Employers: Taxation of Maternity Benefit – July 1st 2013

The Minister for Finance, Michael Noonan T.D., published the Finance Bill 2013 on 13th February 2013. The Bill provided for the Budget day announcement that, effective 1st July 2013, Maternity Benefit, Adoptive Benefit and Health & Safety Benefit payments will be treated as taxable income. As with all other Social Welfare payments; Maternity, Adoptive and Health and Safety Benefit will remain exempt from Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) and Universal Social Charge (USC). 

 

taxation of maternity benefit

This measure will mean that women entitled to these benefits will pay the same level of income tax while in receipt of the benefit as they do when they are working.

Once the benefit is approved by the Department of Social Protection, Revenue will be notified of the applicable figure and will reduce the relevant allowances (tax credit and standard rate cut-off point in respect of the employee) accordingly. Revenue will notify the employer or pension provider of the applicable adjustment by means of a new P2C in respect of the employee. The P2C is the employer copy of the employee tax certificate.

The issuance of a revised P2C is the only thing that the employer needs to be actively aware of in relation to maternity or adoptive benefit. However, since the employer pays the first 21 days of the Health and Safety benefit the new taxation provided for in the Finance Bill may have more of an impact on the employer and the payroll administrator here.

maternity benefit

The net income paid to the recipient for the period is going to be reduced by the new taxation. Consequently, one significant result of this new provision might be mothers/expecting mothers availing of reduced periods of maternity/adoptive leave.

Breaks and Rest Periods in the Irish Workplace

Break Periods in Work Under the Organization of Working Time Act 1997 every employee in Ireland has a legal entitlement to breaks during their working day (or night) and is entitled to have clearly defined rest periods between their working days/nights. Under the Organization of Working Time Act 1997 a rest period is defined as any time that is not working time. In general an employee is entitled to a 15 minute break after the completion of 4.5 hours of work. If the employee is working a shift of 6 hours then he or she is entitled to a 30 minute break (the first break of 15 minutes can be included in this 30 minute allocation). The employer is not obliged to pay employees for these break periods and they are not included when counting the total amount of time that the employee has worked. The regulations vary slightly for different categories of employees - for instance, shop employees who work more than 6 hours at a time are entitled to a break of one consecutive hour between the hours of 11:30 and 14:30 if their work schedule incorporates this period. Breaks in work - rest periods Employees are entitled to 11 consecutive hours of rest in a 24 hour period – on top of this an employee should receive 24 hours of consecutive rest in every 7 day period and this 24 hour allocation should follow an 11 hour rest period. Where an employer does not give his or her employee a full 24 hour consecutive rest period throughout the course of one week he or she must give two of these 24 hour rest periods in the following week.  This rest period, unless otherwise stated, should include a Sunday. Not all employees are governed by the break and rest period rules described above. Members of An Garda Síochána, The Defence Forces and employees who manage their own working hours are exempt.  Family employees on farms or in private homes are also excluded from the Organization of Working Time Act 1997 directives. The working terms and conditions for people under the age of 18 are regulated by the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act 1996. Rest periods in work - break periods In exceptional circumstances or emergencies an employer is exempt from providing the above mentioned rest periods but only where he or she provides equivalent compensatory rest. Where the rest period is postponed the employer must allow the employee to take the compensatory rest within a reasonable period of time. Employees working in transport activities or certain categories of civil protection services are exempt from the statutory break regulations specified above (the equivalent compensatory rest rules do not apply for these employees). Employers should be aware that employees have 6 months to make a complaint regarding breaks and rest periods (in certain circumstance this period can be extended to 12 months).  

Human Resources support in Ireland

Human Resources Support in IrelandAdministration can be an extremely frustrating and time-consuming part of the job but efficient internal mechanics (the nuts and bolts if you will) is what keeps the HR department flowing smoothly. Well-organized administration is what maintains the forward moving momentum of the company yet it is the element of human resources that most HR professionals look upon with trepidation. Rightly so – it’s not glamorous – in fact, one could call it the ‘slog’ work.  The professionals at The HR Company thrive on it and turn it into something useful…. information. From processing new employees to delivering redundancy packages, our HR systems management covers every aspect of back-office administration. The HR Company’s dedicated account managers do much more than administer and process, however, they track your company’s HR information and prompt you and your employees to keep information fresh and up-to-date to avoid any unforeseen issues. Dedicated account managers at The HR Company also use this information to generate the reports and statistics you need to integrate HR into your company’s overall strategic planning. Here is a list of the main tasks that fall under the tricky Human Resources Administration umbrella: •Data entry of new employees •Setting up of email aliases and accounts •Tracking headcount movement •Processing applications •Processing appraisals •Tracking vacation time •Provision and management of electronic filing systems •Preparation and delivery of redundancy packages •Payroll Processing •Tailored generation of reports and statistics HR Ireland We can help to ease the burden of HR administration in a cost-effective manner.

HR Guidance for Childcare Facilities in Ireland

Crèches in Ireland have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. On the 28th of May 2013 the Prime Time Investigates programme “A Breach of Trust” highlighted grave mishandling of infants in the care of a number of crèches in the Leinster region. While the programme uncovered substandard care in three specific childcare facilities it exposed widespread failures in the industry in general. The programme researchers acquired a HSE inspection report that illustrated that a staggering 75% of Irish childcare facilities were in breach of regulations in 2012. Understandably, these statistics caused uproar and opened up a huge debate on childcare standards throughout the nation. Many parents were very upset by the revelations of breaches in child protection regulations. The poor practices exposed in certain crèches distressed many people and the disturbing reports have seriously tainted the image of the childcare industry in Ireland. Crèches in Ireland, childcare facilitiesSubsequent to the Prime Time Investigates programme there have been two reported incidents of unaccompanied toddlers leaving crèches in Dublin while in the care of employees at the facilities. The most recent of these incidents occurred last Friday, 21st June, where two little boys made it out of a Giraffe Crèche on the North side of Dublin. The boys were lucky to have been spotted before they made it as far as the busy road behind the building. These revelations have again raised serious concerns and the childcare industry will have to work hard in order to earn back the trust of parents. In order to protect their reputation it is absolutely vital that management in childcare facilities take the steps necessary to ensure that all employees are fully qualified for the roles in which they have been hired. It is imperative that all employees working with children are vetted thoroughly and that all relevant paperwork is in place. The HSE report from 2012 highlighted serious policy breaches and failures on numerous grounds like the child-carer ratio. It is imperative that employers seek advice from Employment Legislation experts if they need clarification on policies and procedures that they are required to have in place or if they need help in determining whether or not they have the appropriate paperwork on file. The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) is carrying out inspections to ensure that all employers have contracts of employment in place with their employees as well as employee handbooks and so on. NERA seeks to ensure that employment paperwork is up to date with all of the recently implemented employment legislation changes. NERA inspectors can impose large fines if they find that employers are in breach of the regulations. It is essential that all facilities are adequately staffed and that management take every precaution in ensuring a high standard of protection and care for children at all times. One suggestion perhaps might be to install a CCTV system to monitor the interaction between employees and children – before doing so, however, a CCTV policy is required – again, it is essential to seek advice from the appropriate body if you are considering such a course of action. Creches in Ireland, Childcare facilities in Ireland, Mishandling of infants Reports suggested that multiple employees were suspended and at least one dismissed after the Prime Time Investigates programme aired in May of this year. Employers need to remember that, to avoid any risk of exposure, it is absolutely imperative to follow approved disciplinary procedures prior to disciplining employees. Regardless of the severity of the situation there are steps that need to be followed in order to ensure employers remain compliant with all Irish Employment Legislation. It is vital to follow procedures that are in line with the Labour Court recommendations to insulate your company against the risk of a future claim. To avoid jeopardising the process contact an Employment Law expert prior to initiating any disciplinary action and arm yourself with the appropriate guidance. childcare facilities in Ireland, Children being mishandled in Crèches

Managing Training Administration for Multinationals

We all know how important it is to get the right people to the right place at the right time – this becomes even more of an issue when it comes to business. In fact, it is absolutely critical to get the balance right where business is concerned.

Organising people is not an art form – but it can be extremely delicate work at times. Ensuring employees have everything they need when they get where they are going is an even trickier task. This is the very reason we provide training administration management services for multinationals and large companies in Ireland.

Once you have analysed and planned your company’s specific training needs The HR Company will fully administer your entire training process…. from the scheduling of people, to the scheduling of venues and equipment. We even assess programme content and provide outstanding maintenance of training records. Managing Training Administration Some of our services are listed below: • Management of all training vendors •Scheduling of training programmes •Management of training venues and facilities •Maintenance and administration of training records •Feedback assessment of programme content •Establishment of a single point of invoicing for training programmes •Succession planning •Tailored generation of reports and statistics If you have any queries at all please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Former Employee Awarded €58k for Unfair Dismissal

Unfair Dismissal, Unfairly Dismissed On the basis of a decline in sales within an exhaust business the Finance Director decided that a redundancy was required. There were 4 employees who generated sales for the company. The Finance Director believed the company only required 3 people to perform the sales roles. The 4 individuals were informed that their positions were at risk and they were given a copy of the selection matrix that was used to determine who would be made redundant. The 4 employees all agreed that the matrix (after a slight amendment suggested by one of the employees concerned) was a fair and equitable way of assessing them. The sales director scored the matrices. The employee who scored the lowest was informed that he was to be made redundant. The employee who was made redundant contended that the selection process had not been fairly operated. The Finance Director had not raised the issue of the exhaust centre’s declining profitability with him before deciding to make someone redundant. He was not told his sales were down. The employee who was made redundant was at a disadvantage because the 3 other employees had a closer affinity with one another than with him and therefore he scored lower on team work. While the employee who was made redundant did not object to the selection matrix – he did, however, feel as though it had not been scored fairly. His extensive product knowledge was not taken into account. Also not taken into account was his City & Guilds qualification. Unfairly dismissed, unfair dismissal, fired After his redundancy the employee learned that the company had a new operation in Cork. A former employee was recruited to manage the new operation. The claimant was not told about the new operation or asked to apply for any of the jobs there. The claimant established loss for the Tribunal. The Tribunal carefully considered all evidence in the case. It was clear that management did not speak to the employee when they determined that his position was not profitable. When it came to the process of selecting an employee for redundancy, the method chosen put the employee at a distinct disadvantage. The Tribunal found that the selection process was unfair and therefore the dismissal of the claimant was unfair. The claim under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007 succeeded and the claimant was awarded the sum of €58,000.00 in addition to any payment he had already received.

Update on Employers Deducting Local Property Tax (LPT) at Source

Some companies have recently received correspondence threatening legal proceedings if they deduct Local Property Tax (LPT) from employees’ salaries. The Revenue Commissioners, however, have confirmed that any legal proceedings will be strenuously contested by the State. Section 65 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act, 2012, states that employers are statutorily obliged to comply with any direction that may be issued to them to deduct tax in accordance with the below statutory provision. “Where a liable person is in receipt of emoluments  ... the Revenue Commissioners may direct an employer to deduct, in a period specified in the direction, local property tax payable by the liable person from the net emoluments payable to the liable person by the employer” LPT, Local Property Tax   Further clarification of what Employers need to know regarding LPT:   Any employee who has not yet paid, or started to pay, their applicable Local Property Tax (LPT) will have mandatory deduction at source from salary or pension imposed. Those who failed to submit their LPT return on time or failed to meet the relevant payment obligations by 1st July 2013 are under scrutiny. Employers and occupational pension providers alike are obliged to ensure deduction at source. Revenue should have notified the employers/ pension providers of the outstanding sums via the P2Cs (The P2C is the employer copy of the tax credit certificate in respect of the individual employee). The relevant sum is to be deducted from the employee’s net pay. The employer is to commence deducting the LPT after receipt of the relevant P2C (after July 1st 2013). The relevant P2Cs should have been issued to most employers by mid June 2013. The LPT to be deducted is illustrated at the bottom of the P2C. The deductions must be made on a consistent basis over the 6 month period between July and December 2013. If the employee is paid weekly then the LPT deduction should be made weekly and if the employee is paid monthly then the deduction should be applied monthly. For example if the LPT to be deducted is €300 then an employee who is paid weekly will see €300/26=€11.538 deducted from their weekly net salary (Any rounding should be in favour of the employee) - If an employee owing €300 is paid monthly then he or she is due to pay €300/6=€50 on a monthly basis. Any refunds of LPT will be dealt with by Revenue – Employers are not to make any refunds of this kind. LPT, Local Property Tax, LPT Employer's Responsibilities If the employer receives the P2C detailing LPT after the July payroll has run then the total LPT should be deducted from August through December - the remaining 5 month period. Employers are obliged to keep a record of the applicable LPT that they deduct for Revenue and are required to account for the figures on the Forms P30 and P35 in respect of the employees concerned. The employer is also responsible for recording the appropriate LPT data for employees on their payslips as well as P60’s and P45s. Where there is a Court Order on file prior to the issuance of the P2C this must take precedence over the LPT deduction. However, if the P2C is issued prior to a Court Order being made then the LPT deduction will preside. Where the Court Order and P2C are issued or made effective from the same date the Court Order takes precedence. The LPT payment, however, takes precedence over all non-statutory deductions like Health Insurance. The Employer/Pension provider cannot take an instruction from the employee to stop deducting LPT from his or her salary – the employer is obliged to deduct the applicable LPT until the P2C shows that no further payment is due. If an employee would like to pay the relevant tax via a different method he or she should contact the LPT Branch and make these arrangements – then the employer will be issued with an updated P2C telling them to stop the deduction from pay/pension. Similarly if the employee feels as though there is a discrepancy in the amount of LPT they are being charged he or she should discuss this with the LPT Branch not the employer. If an adjustment needs to be made to the P2C then a revised directive will be issued to the employer – until such a directive is received the employer should continue to deduct the original LPT figure. According to Revenue “Where there are shortfalls due to insufficient net salary in a particular pay period(s) the employer should adjust the amount of LPT to be deducted per pay period (for the remaining pay periods in the year) to ensure the full amount of LPT is collected by the end of the year. Once this is done, the employer will not be required to notify Revenue about the shortfall. However, employers must notify Revenue in writing (e.g. by Secure Email to employersLPT@revenue.ie) where there will be insufficient income to satisfy the employee’s full LPT liability for the year, based on the expected income for the employee.” Revenue has established a helpline for employers and pension providers alike to assist with their queries on how this LPT deduction at source will operate. The Employer Helpline is 1890 25 45 65.

Asking to be fired – Why an employer must not adhere to this request

An employee recently requested that his employer dismiss him. When asked why he wanted to be let go the employee explained that he wished to spend more time at home helping his sick wife with the children and assisting with the domestic duties. The employer was considering doing as the employee asked as he felt that the motives behind the request were practical. Asking to be fired, unfair dismissal The employer, however, took a few moments to think about the request. He concluded that the employee had been a diligent worker and so was reluctant to see the employee leave his role. In the hopes that it might encourage the employee to consider changing his mind the employer decided to offer the employee a small pay rise and to be more flexible with him in terms of his working hours. After the employer made the offer the employee became frustrated and again asked the employer to fire him. The employer was confused as to why the employee was so adamant that he wanted to be fired as he had always seemed quite satisfied in his role. The employer also wondered why the employee didn’t simply resign if he wanted to go so badly. The employer decided to seek some advice on the situation prior to making his final decision. After some research the employer realised that this request was a common one and that motives behind this type of request were typically financially-based ones. Asking to be fired, Unfair Dismissal, EAT If an employee leaves employment voluntarily and without a reasonable cause then he or she may be disqualified from getting Jobseeker's Benefit for 9 weeks, however, if the employee is dismissed from employment then he would be entitled to claim benefits earlier. Social Welfare Fraud is a serious offense. The employee became extremely angry when the employer refused to dismiss him. Had the employer satisfied the request and fired the employee the individual could have lodged a case for unfair dismissal. The employer was fortunate that he sought advice after receiving the request from the employee. Due to the fact that the employee had not done anything to warrant his dismissal it is likely that a claim would have succeeded in an Employment Appeals Tribunal scenario – Unfair Dismissal can lead to an award of up to 2 years’ salary. Employers receiving requests along these lines should seek advice from Irish Employment Legislation specialists prior to taking any action.

Compensation and Benefits Management in Ireland

In a competitive job market like this compensation and benefits take on an added level of significance. The management of benefits and compensation can also take on an added level of complexity..... they can cause added stress for an already pressurised environment. Compensation and Benefits, ?Benefits and Compensation Administration   The HR Company removes any complexity from the scenario. We take the guess-work out of decision making by surveying the marketplace and keeping you informed of everything you need to be aware of. On top of salary compensation and benefits can include items such as a company car, bonuses, sales incentives like commission, extra paid time off, medical insurance, stock options and much more. It can be very difficult to stay on top of this HR function. We take the headache out of the administration of compensation and benefits for you by providing you with a variety of specialised back-office services. These include everything from processing pension and medical plans to managing and organising your company’s Organisational Health Index. Here is a list of some of the services we offer to assist companies with their compensation and benefits management: •Pension/medical membership processing •Salary survey, planning & administration •Salary/Bonus/Stock system processing •Company Car policy management •Mortgage application processing •Maternity/Parental Leave benefits •Flexible benefits •Advise on, manage and organise annual Benefits and Expo & Health Awareness Programme •Manage & organise company OHI •Manage Outplacement Programme •Tailored generation of reports & statistics Compensation and Benefits Administration, Management of Compensation and Benefits Our goal is to ensure your HR functions run as smoothly as possible so that you can focus on the ensuring the other aspects of your business are running as smoothly as possible. If you need  guidance or support with benefit and compensation administration then look no further than The HR Company.

Protections for Whistleblowers in Ireland

The Protected Disclosure Bill 2013 was published on July 3rd 2013 by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, T.D. The Bill is to establish a comprehensive legislative framework protecting whistleblowers in all industries in Ireland. The purpose of the legislation is to protect workers who raise concerns regarding wrongdoing (or potential wrongdoing) that they have become aware of in the workplace. The Bill will offer significant employment and other protections to whistleblowers if they suffer any penalties at the hands of their employer for coming forward with information of wrongdoing in the workplace.   Whistleblowers, Protection for whistleblowers in Ireland The legislation, which is due to be enacted in the autumn, closely reflects best practices in whistleblowing protection in developed nations around the world. According to Minister Howlin the Bill “should instil all workers with confidence that should they ever need to take that decisive step and speak-up on concerns that they have about possible misconduct in the workplace, they will find that society values their actions as entirely legitimate, appropriate and in the public interest”. Some key elements included in the Bill are as follows: Compensation of up to a maximum of five years remuneration can be awarded in the case of an unfair dismissal that came about as a result of making a protected disclosure. This would be a massive step forward in Ireland’s attempt to match the standards set by other established nations. It is important to note that limitations relating to the length of service that usually apply in the case of Unfair Dismissals are set aside in the case of protected disclosures. As a result of this Bill whistleblowers will benefit from civil immunity from actions for damages and a qualified privilege under defamation law. The legislation provides a number of disclosure channels for potential whistleblowers and stresses that the disclosure, rather than the whistleblower, should be the focus of the attention. Protections for the whistleblower remain in place even where the information disclosed does not reveal any wrongdoing when examined. Deliberate false reporting, however, will not be protected. These measures, when enacted, should encourage more people to come forward, and feel comfortable doing so, when they become aware of (or suspect) any criminal activity, misconduct or wrongdoing in the workplace. Protection for whistleblowers in Ireland

JobsPlus – More Jobs at a Lower Cost

 On 1st July 2013 the Department of Social Protection launched a new Scheme which offers employers rewards for recruiting individuals who have been unemployed for a considerable period of time. The JobsPlus incentive encourages companies to employ the long-term unemployed and in return offers substantial cash grants to the employer.

JobsPlus replaces the existing Revenue Job Assist Schemes as well as the Employer Job PRSI exemption.

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The list of individuals who have experienced long-term unemployment has grown significantly in recent years and the objective of this incentive is to motivate employers to recruit from this grouping first.

The cash grant will be payable monthly (in arrears) via Electronic Fund Transfer over a period of two years. This payment will only continue to be made if the recruit in respect of whom the grant is being paid remains in the same employment.

There are two different levels of grant – the higher rate will only be paid in respect of those who have been out of employment for more than 2 full years.

The figure being paid in respect of those who have been unemployed for 12-24 months is a total of €7,500 per person.

The grant in respect of those who have been out of the workforce for more than 2 years is €10,000 per person.

The critical eligibility criteria for JobsPlus are:

  • The roles offered must be “Full Time” employments – offering more than 30 hours per week (and spanning at least 4 days per week).
  • The employers concerned must be fully compliant with Irish tax and employment laws.
  • The roles given to the long-term unemployed must not displace current employees – however, the grant is available to employers who are filling new vacancies as a result of natural turnover.
  • The period of unemployment must be continuous (and a minimum of 12 months) in order for the recruit to be eligible.

Employers are not limited in terms of the numbers that they can employ from the long-term unemployment register.

As mentioned JobsPlus replaces the existing Revenue Job Assist Schemes as well as the Employer Job PRSI exemption – Beneficiaries of these schemes will, however, continue to receive the tax and Pay Related Social Insurance (PRSI) exemption privileges for as long as they are entitled by the terms and conditions of these schemes to do so.

Employers are able to register for the JobsPlus Incentive by filling out a form on www.jobsplus.ie.

Employers will also be able to instruct prospective employees to fill out an online application to confirm that they are eligible for the JobsPlus Scheme.

2021-02-23T17:25:07+00:00
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