If an employee is dismissed and the reason for the dismissal is redundancy then the employee has a right to a lump sum payment provided they have two years continuous service completed. An employee is entitled to two weeks statutory redundancy payment for every year of service, plus a bonus week.

If you have been dismissed and an employer has not discharged the redundancy lump payment to you, you can apply to your employer for payment by using the following form RP77.

If your employer fails to discharge their redundancy payment liability to you, you may seek to bring a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission. The WRC complaint form can be found on the following link.

If you feel you have been dismissed unfairly, or unfairly selected for redundancy, you might be entitled to bring a claim for Unfair Dismissal, as employment dismissals have to be conducted in accordance with the law. Dismissal by reason of Redundancy has to be a genuine Redundancy situation, that is in accordance with a set number of reasons, as set out by the Redundancy Payments Acts.

If an employer is unable to pay the Redundancy, they can complete and RP50 Form and this can be submitted to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, who can then discharge the redundancy sum liability of the employer to the employee out of the Social Insurance Fund.

Here is the address details where to submit RP50 Form to:

Redundancy and Insolvency Payments Section
Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection
Ground Floor, Gandon House
Amiens Street
Dublin 1
D01 A361
Web: www.welfare.ie
Telephone: (01) 673 4500
LoCall: 1890 800 699

How is Redundancy Calculated ?

To calculate Redundancy you need the Date of Commencement, the Date of Termination, and the Gross Weekly Sum.

By typing in the above information to a Redundancy Calculator, you can find many online, it will give you the sum you are entitled to. Here is an information post about a Redundancy Ireland Calculator which makes the information required clear.

Redundancy Rules

There are 5 reasons set by Law whereby a dismissal constitutes a redundancy.

These are:

 a) the fact that his employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him, or has ceased or intends to cease, to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed, or

(b) the fact that the requirements of that business for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where he was so employed have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish, or

(c) the fact that his employer has decided to carry on the business with fewer or no employees, whether by requiring the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) to be done by other employees or otherwise, or

(d) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done in a different manner for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained, or

(e) the fact that his employer has decided that the work for which the employee had been employed (or had been doing before his dismissal) should henceforward be done by a person who is also capable of doing other work for which the employee is not sufficiently qualified or trained.

Many of the above genuine reasons for redundancy relate to the economic need of the enterprise. Redundancy dismissals are not about the employee’s personality, performance or a personality clash with the employer, for example. Genuine redundancy situations are impersonal to that employee.

Redundancy meaning ?

If an employee is dismissed by the employer by reason of Redundancy, or if the employee is laid off, or kept on short-time, they will be entitled to a redundancy lump sum payment from the employer, if they have the requisite service period and the employee is in insurable employment.  This just means that the employee is in employment where the employer is liable to pay PRSI.

Do you have to pay Redundancy ?

If an employee has been dismissed by and employer, is entitled to redundancy under the Redundancy Payments Acts, the employer has a legal obligation to discharge the lump sum payment to the employee.

If an employer contravenes the redundancy payments acts, an employee should avail of and activate their legal rights under the legislation.

Redundancy Payments Act 1967, as revised

Here is the principal act which has undergone many revisions over the years and this version is to date the 29th of June 2023.

Please be advised that the above-mentioned material is intended as an overview and as a broad out-line of the topic discussed. It should not be considered as complete and comprehensive legal advice, nor act as an appropriate substitute.

Legal advice should be sought from a solicitor prior to relying on anything in this article.

Due care has been taken in the publication of this article and we do not accept legal liability as a result of reliance on any material covered in the above article.