F116[1. (1) The amount of the lump sum shall be equivalent to the aggregate of the following:

(a) the product of two weeks of the employee’s normal weekly remuneration and the number of years of continuous employment from the date on which the employee attained the age of 16 years with the employer by whom the employee was employed on the date of dismissal or by whom the employee was employed when the employee gave notice of intention to claim under section 12, and

(b) a sum equivalent to the employee’s normal weekly remuneration.

(2) In calculating the amount of the lump sum, the amount per annum to be taken into account shall be that obtaining under section 4(2) of the Redundancy Payments Act 1979 at the time the employee is declared redundant.]

F116[2. If the total amount of reckonable service is not an exact number of years, the “excess” days shall be credited as a proportion of a year.]

F116[3. (a) For the purpose of ascertaining, for the purposes of paragraph 1, the number of years of continuous employment, the number of weeks in the period of continuous employment shall be ascertained in accordance with this Schedule and the result shall be divided by 52.

(b) In ascertaining the number of weeks in the period of continuous employment, a week which under this Schedule is not allowable as reckonable service shall be disregarded.]

Continuous Employment

4. For the purposes of this Schedule employment shall be taken to be continuous unless terminated by dismissal or by the employee’s voluntarily leaving the employment F117[, but for the purposes of this paragraph ‘dismissal’ does not include a dismissal within the meaning of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, and in respect of which redress has been awarded under section 7 (1) (a) or 7 (1) (b) of that Act].

F118[4A. Notwithstanding anything in paragraph 4 (and anything in clause (b) of the definition of “date of dismissal” in section 2), the period of notice due to an employee under section 4 (2) (a) of the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973, but not given by the employer, shall, where the Tribunal so orders, be allowed as continuous service for redundancy purposes where, but for the failure of the employer to comply with the provisions of that Act, the employee would have qualified for redundancy payment.]

F119[5. Where an employee’s period of service has been interrupted by any one of the following—

(a) any period by reason of—

(i) sickness,

(ii) lay-off,

(iii) holidays,

(iv) service by the employee in the Reserve Defence Forces of the State,

(v) any cause (other than the voluntary leaving of the employment concerned by the employee) not mentioned in clauses (i) to (iv) but authorised by the employer,

F120[(b) a period during which, in accordance with the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995 and 2005, an adopting parent was absent from work while on adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave or while attending certain pre-adoption classes or meetings,]

F121[(c) a period during which an employee was absent from work—

(i) while on protective leave or natal care absence, within the meaning of Part IV of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 or to attend ante-natal classes in accordance with section 15A (inserted by section 8 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004), or for breastfeeding in accordance with section 15B (inserted by section 9 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004), of the first-mentioned Act,

F122[(ii) while on parental leave, force majeure leave, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or on a flexible working arrangement under the Parental Leave Act 1998, or]

(iii) while on carer’s leave under the Carer’s Leave Act 2001,]

(d) any period during which an employee was absent from work because of a lock-out by the employer or because the employee was participating in a strike, whether such absence occurred before or after the commencement of this Act,

F123[(e) any period during which an employee was absent from work while on paternity leave or transferred paternity leave under the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016,]

F124[(f) any period during which an employee was absent from work while on parent’s leave or transferred parent’s leave under the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019,]

continuity of employment shall not be broken by such interruption whether or not notice of termination of the contract of employment has been given.]

F125[(5A) If an employee is dismissed by reason of redundancy before attaining the period of 104 weeks referred to in section 7 (5) (as amended) of the Principal Act and resumes employment with the same employer within 26 weeks, his employment shall be taken to be continuous.]

F126[6. Where a trade or business or an undertaking (whether or not it be an undertaking established by or under an Act of the Oireachtas), or part of a trade or business or of such an undertaking, was or is transferred from one person to another, the period of employment of an employee in the trade, business or undertaking (or in the part of the trade, business or undertaking) at the time of the transfer shall count as a period of employment with the transferee, and the transfer shall not break the continuity of the period of employment.]

Reckonable Service

7. For the purposes of this Schedule, a week falling within a period of continuous employment and during which (or during any part of which) the employee concerned either was actually at work, or was absent therefrom by reason of sickness, F127[a dismissal within the meaning of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, and in respect of which redress has been awarded under section 7 (1) (a) or 7 (1) (b) of that Act,] holidays or any other arrangement with his employer shall, subject to paragraph 8, be allowable as reckonable service.

F128[8. During, and only during, the 3 year period ending with the date of termination of employment, none of the following absences shall be allowable as reckonable service—

(a) absence in excess of 52 consecutive weeks by reason of an occupational accident or disease within the meaning of the Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act 1993,

(b) absence in excess of 26 consecutive weeks by reason of any illness not referred to in subparagraph (a),

(c) absence by reason of lay-off by the employer.

8A. The following absences shall be allowable as reckonable service:

F129[(a) a period during which, in accordance with the Adoptive Leave Acts 1995 and 2005, an adopting parent was absent from work while on adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave or while attending certain pre-adoption classes or meetings,]

F130[(b) a period during which an employee was absent from work—]

(i) while on protective leave or natal care absence, within the meaning of Part IV of the Maternity Protection Act 1994 or to attend ante-natal classes in accordance with section 15A (inserted by section 8 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004), or for breastfeeding in accordance with section 15B (inserted by section 9 of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004), of the first-mentioned Act,

F122[(ii) while on parental leave, force majeure leave, leave for medical care purposes, domestic violence leave or on a flexible working arrangement under the Parental Leave Act 1998, or]

(iii) while on carer’s leave under the Carer’s Leave Act 2001,

F131[(ba) a period during which, in accordance with the Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016, an employee was absent from work while on paternity leave or transferred paternity leave within the meaning of that Act,]

F124[(bb) a period during which, in accordance with the Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019, an employee was absent from work while on parent’s leave or transferred parent’s leave within the meaning of that Act,]

(c) any absences not mentioned in F132[paragraphs (a), F133[(b), (ba) or (bb)]] but authorised by the employer.]

9. Absence from work by reason of a strike in the business or industry in which the employee concerned is employed and which occurred before the commencement of this Act shall be allowable as reckonable service.

F134[10. During, and only during, the 3 year period ending with the date of termination of employment, absence from work by reason of a strike in the business or industry in which the employee concerned is employed shall not be allowable as reckonable service.]

11. Absence from work by reason of a lock-out shall be allowable as reckonable service.

12. Absence from work by reason of a strike or lock-out in a business or industry other than that in which the employee concerned is employed shall be allowable as reckonable service if it occurred before the commencement of this Act.

Normal Weekly Remuneration

13. For the purposes of this Schedule, in the case of an employee who is paid wholly by an hourly time rate or by a fixed wage or salary, and in the case of any other employee whose remuneration does not vary in relation to the amount of work done by him, his normal weekly remuneration shall be taken to be his earnings (including any regular bonus or allowance which does not vary in relation to the amount of work done F135[and any payment in kind]) for his normal weekly working hours as at the date on which he was declared redundant, together with, in the case of F136[an employee who is normally expected to work overtime], his average weekly overtime earnings as determined in accordance with paragraph 14.

14. For the purpose of paragraph 13 the average weekly overtime earnings shall be determined by ascertaining the total amount of overtime earnings of the employee concerned in the period of 26 weeks which ended 13 weeks before the date on which the employee was declared redundant and dividing that amount by 26.

15. For the purpose of paragraph 14 any week during which the employee concerned did not work shall be disregarded and the most recent week before the 26-week period mentioned in paragraph 14 shall be taken into account instead of the week during which the employee did not work.

16. (i) In the case of an employee who is paid wholly or partly by piece rates, bonuses or commissions (being piecerates, bonuses or commissions related directly to his output) and in the case of any other employee whose remuneration varies in relation to the amount of work done by him, his normal weekly remuneration shall be taken to be the amount as calculated in accordance with subparagraph (ii).

(ii) For the purposes of subparagraph (i) normal weekly remuneration shall be calculated by dividing the remuneration to be taken into account in accordance with subparagraph (iii) by the number of hours ascertained in accordance with subparagraph (vi) and multiplying the resulting hourly rate by the normal weekly working hours of the employee concerned at the date on which he was declared redundant.

(iii) The remuneration to be taken into account for the purposes of subparagraph (ii) shall be the total remuneration paid to the employee concerned for all the hours worked in the period of 26 weeks which ended 13 weeks before the date on which the employee was declared redundant, adjusted in respect of any variations in the rates of pay which became operative during the period of 13 weeks ending on the date on which the employee was declared redundant.

(iv) For the purposes of subparagraph (iii), weeks worked with different employers may be taken into account if the change of employer did not affect the employee’s continuous employment as provided by paragraphs 4 to 6.

(v) For the purposes of subparagraph (iii), any week during which the employee did not work shall be disregarded and the most recent week before the 26-week period mentioned in subparagraph (iii) shall be taken into account instead of the week during which the employee did not work.

(vi) The number of hours to be taken into account for the purposes of subparagraph (ii) shall be the total number of hours worked in the period of 26 weeks mentioned in subparagraph (iii).

17. Where an employee receives additional remuneration for working more than a fixed number of hours, that fixed number of hours shall, for the purposes of paragraphs 13 and 16 (ii), be taken to be his normal weekly working hours, unless by his contract of employment he is required to work for more than that fixed number of hours, and in the last mentioned case the higher number of hours required by the contract shall be taken to be his normal weekly working hours.

18. Where in a particular week an employee qualifies for a payment of a bonus, pay allowance or commission which relates to more than the work done in that week, the appropriate portion of the payment may be taken into account under paragraphs 13 and 16 (iii).

19. An employee who is normally employed on a shift cycle and whose remuneration varies in relation to the particular shift he works, and an employee whose remuneration for his normal number of working hours varies in relation to the day of the week or the times of the day or night over which those hours are spread, shall be taken to be each an employee who is paid wholly or partly by piece-rates.

20. For the purposes of this Schedule, in the case of an employee who has no normal working hours, his normal weekly remuneration shall be taken to be the average weekly remuneration, including any bonus, pay allowance or commission, received by the employee concerned over the period of 52 weeks during which he was actually working immediately prior to the date on which he was declared redundant.

21. The date on which an employee is declared redundant shall for the purposes of this Schedule be taken to be the date on which a notice of proposed dismissal was given to the employee in accordance with section 17 or, where a redundancy payment is claimed in accordance with section 12, the first day of the series of weeks of lay-off or short-time referred to in section 7 (3).

22. Where under this Schedule account is to be taken of remuneration or other payments for a period which does not coincide with the periods for which the remuneration or other payments are calculated, part of the remuneration or other payments shall be duly apportioned in such manner as may be just.

23. For the purposes of paragraphs 13 and 16, account shall not be taken of any sums paid to an employee by way of recoupment of expenses necessarily incurred by him in the proper discharge of the duties of his employment.

Miscellaneous

24. In this Schedule—

F137[…]

“strike” and “lock-out” have the meanings respectively assigned to them by section 6.