The Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024 has been signed into law. The text of the Act remains unchanged from when we published a briefing on the Bill in December here.
At A Glance
Responsible Person
The Act will insert into the Protection of Employment Acts 1977 – 2014 the definition of responsible person which will include a liquidator, a provisional liquidator, a receiver or any other person appointed by the court where they assume full control of the business.
Obligations of Responsible Person
1. Consultation
Where a responsible person proposes to create collective redundancies, they will be required to, with a view to reaching an agreement, initiate consultations with employees' representatives. Consultations should be at the earliest opportunity and in any event at least 30 days before the first notice of dismissal is given.
2. Information
For the purposes of consultations, the responsible person will be required to supply employees' representatives with all relevant information relating to the proposed redundancies.
The Protection of Employment Acts set out a non-exhaustive list of the information that should be provided in writing to employees' representatives. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (the "Minister") must be provided with copies of all such information as soon as possible.
3. Notification
Where a responsible person proposes to create collective redundancies, they will be required to notify the Minister in writing of their proposals at the earliest opportunity and in any event at least 30 days before the first dismissal takes effect.
Defence
It will be a defence for a responsible person to show that, having exercised all reasonable professional care and skill, they had reasonable grounds for believing that the employer had complied with its consultation and information obligations and its obligation to notify the Minister.
Removal of Exemption
Collective redundancies must not take effect before the expiry of the period of 30 days beginning on the date of the relevant notification to the Minister. Currently, this protection for employees does not apply in an insolvency situation. Under the Act, this exemption in insolvency situations will be removed. The prohibition on effecting redundancies before the expiry of the period of 30 days beginning on the date of the relevant notification to the Minister will apply to all collective redundancies.
New Avenue of Redress
An employee will be entitled to take a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission where they are dismissed prior to the expiry of the 30 day period following the notification to the Minister. The maximum award of compensation that can be awarded to an employee will be four weeks' remuneration.
Notification By E-Mail
The Act will amend the Protection of Employment Acts so that the notification to the Minister can be sent by "electronic means" and not just by registered post as is the current position.
This article contains a general summary of developments and is not a complete or definitive statement of the law. Specific legal advice should be obtained where appropriate.
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