Direct employees of Clerys to get statutory redundancy only

The 130 or so direct employees of Clery

s who lost their jobs when the company went into liquidation last week are expected to receive only statutory redundancy entitlements.

Under this scheme an eligible employee is entitled to two weeks’ statutory redundancy payment for every year of service, plus a bonus week.

The Department of Social Protection said compensation was based on the worker's length of reckonable service and weekly remuneration, subject to a ceiling of €600 a week.

“To qualify for a statutory redundancy payment, an employee must have at least two years’ continuous service; be in employment that is insurable under the Social Welfare Acts; be over the age of 16; [and] must have been made redundant as a result of a genuine redundancy situation, meaning that the job no longer exists and he/she is not replaced,” it said.

“In cases of liquidation, the statutory lump sum payment is paid in full to the employee(s) from the social insurance fund. In such cases, the department becomes a preferential creditor of the liquidation.”

Siptu said compensation for outstanding payments due to staff at Clerys would have to come from the department's insolvency payments scheme.

The department said entitlements covered by the scheme included wages, holiday pay, sick pay, payment in lieu of minimum notice due under legislation and certain pension contributions.

“Payments of arrears of wages, sick pay, holiday pay and minimum notice are limited to a maximum of eight weeks,” it said.

The department said the processing time for payments from the insolvency fund would depend on when the liquidator submitted the claim and on whether the claim contained all the relevant details and supporting documentation.

“The department is currently processing insolvency claims and redundancy claims received in May 2015. It does not expect there will be any delay in processing the claims, provided all the claims are submitted in a timely fashion by the liquidator and that all the relevant details are provided,” it said.