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Lay-offs handbook updated after new act

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has published an updated version of an information handbook for workers facing collective redundancy after a company becomes insolvent.

First published in 2021, Information Handbook: Rights and Remedies available to Employees Facing a Collective Redundancy Situation is aimed at providing clear and accessible information for employees in such situations.

The updated version reflects changes to collective-redundancy rules introduced in the Employment (Collective Redundancies and Miscellaneous Provisions) and Companies (Amendment) Act 2024.

Entitlement to information

These changes, which took effect from 1 July 2024, provide a new form of redress to employees where their employer makes them redundant before the end of the 30-day notification period set out in law.

They also enhance employees’ entitlements to information, both as creditors under company law and as workers, in the event of their employer’s insolvency.

Referring to Ireland’s “increasingly diverse and multi-lingual” workforce, Emer Higgins (Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail) said that the department had also published a ‘plain language’ summary of the handbook in eight languages.