S.I. No. 33/1943 - Insurance (Intermittent Unemployment) (Contributions) Regulations, 1943.

STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS. 1943. No. 33.

INSURANCE (INTERMITTENT UNEMPLOYMENT) (CONTRIBUTIONS) REGULATIONS, 1943.

THE INSURANCE (INTERMITTENT UNEMPLOYMENT) (CONTRIBUTIONS) REGULATIONS, 1943, MADE BY THE MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE ON THE 28TH DAY OF JANUARY, 1943, PURSUANT TO THE INSURANCE (INTERMITTENT UNEMPLOYMENT) ACT, 1942 .

The Minister for Industry and Commerce, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by the Insurance (Intermittent Unemployment) Act, 1942 (No. 7 of 1942), and of every and any other power him in that behalf enabling, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

PART I. PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Insurance (Intermittent Unemployment) (Contributions) Regulations, 1943, and shall come into operation on such date as may be fixed by order of the Minister made under sub-section (3) of section 1 of the Act for the coming into operation of section 18 of the Act.

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires or admits:

the expression " the Act " means the Insurance (Intermittent Unemployment) Act, 1942 (No. 7 of 1942), as amended by any order or subsequent enactment:

the expression " supplementary unemployment book " includes any book referred to in these Regulations as a " wet-time book": a " wet-time emergency book " or a " wet-time arrears book ":

the expression " stamp " means a supplementary insurance stamp :

the expression " termination of employment " means the day on which employment actually comes to an end whether the termination of employment is in accordance with the terms of the contract or not, or whether or not the employment is to be resumed at a later date.

(2) Where under these Regulations the Minister is empowered to give directions on any matter, the directions may be given either generally or as regards any special case or any special class or district.

(3) Any of the powers conferred on the Minister under these Regulations may be exercised by, and anything required by these Regulations to be done by, to or before the Minister may be done by, to or before the Secretary of an Assistant Secretary or any other officer of the Department of Industry and Commerce authorised by the Minister in that behalf.

PART II. COLLECTION OF WEEKLY CONTRIBUTIONS.

I.—Issue, Custody and Disposal of Supplementary Unemployment Books.

3.—(1) Every person who is required by the Act to be or to become an insured person shall attend at a local office and there obtain a supplementary unemployment book to be called a " wet-time book ", and shall furnish such evidence of age and such other particulars as the Minister may require for the purpose of determining whether he is an insured person and, if so, whether he is a skilled worker, an unskilled worker or a young person:

Provided that the Minister may, if he thinks fit, in any particular case allow the book to be obtained in such other manner as he may direct.

(2) Every person required to obtain a wet-time book who is an employed person within the meaning of the Unemployment Insurance Acts, 1920 to 1941, or the employer of such person shall, when application is being made for a wet-time book under this Regulation, produce for the inspection of a local officer the unemployment book issued to the said employed person.

(3) Where in any case for the purpose of determining whether a person is an insured person, a skilled worker, an unskilled worker or a young person, a local officer considers it necessary to do so he may direct to the employer of that person an enquiry as to the occupation or capacity in which that person is employed or as to the nature or conditions of his employment or as to all of these matters and an employer on the receipt of such enquiry shall furnish to the local officer the information so required.

(4) A wet-time book shall be in such form as the Minister may direct and shall be issued without charge to a person properly applying for it and when issued shall remain the property of the Minister.

(5) An insured person on obtaining a wet-time book in accordance with these Regulations shall sign it forthwith in the space provided for the purpose and shall be responsible for its custody until it is delivered to an employer or to a local office in accordance with these Regulations.

(6) Every employer of a person who is required to be insured under the provisions of the Act shall obtain from that person a wet-time book then current immediately after the date of the engagement, or, where at the date of engagement a question has arisen for determination by the Minister under the provisions of section 10 of the Act, as soon as may be after the date of engagement, or, in the case of a person required to be insured by reason of attaining a specified age, immediately after he attains that age, or, in the case of a person required to be insured at the date of the commencement of section 18 of the Act, immediately after that date, and it shall be the duty of the aforesaid person to deliver or cause to be delivered his wet-time book to the employer accordingly:

Provided that where at the date of engagement an insured person's wet-time book is lodged at a local office, the employer shall be held to have complied with this Regulation as soon as he has obtained from the insured person the receipt for it issued by the local office and has despatched the receipt to that local office with a view to obtaining the book :

Provided also that where, in response to an application for a wet-time book properly made by an insured person, it is issued by a local office direct to his employer, the requirements of paragraph (1) and of this paragraph of this Regulation shall be deemed to have been satisfied and the insured person shall sign the wet-time book as soon as may be after its receipt by the employer.

(7) The employer on obtaining the wet-time book shall become responsible for the custody thereof so long as the employment continues or until it is delivered to a local office or to the insured person in accordance with these Regulations.

4. The person for the time being responsible for the custody of, or having in his possession or under his control, a wet-time or other supplementary unemployment book shall produce it for inspection at any reasonable time when required to do so by a local officer or by an inspector and, if so required, shall deliver up the book to the local officer or inspector who may, if he thinks fit, retain it.

5. If any insured person desires to inspect his wet-time book while it is in the custody of the employer, the employer shall, subject as hereinafter mentioned, give him a reasonable opportunity of so doing :

Provided that no insured person shall be entitled by virtue of this provision to inspect his wet-time book more than once in any one month nor except at such time, either within or immediately before or after working hours, as may be fixed by the employer for the purpose.

6. No note or mark of any kind (except, where necessary, an amendment of the insured person's address) shall be made in, affixed to, or impressed on a wet-time book by an employer or an insured person other than such mark as is required for the purpose of cancelling in accordance with these Regulations any stamp affixed to it.

7.—(1) On the termination of the employment of any insured person for any cause other than his death or on weekly contributions ceasing for any cause to be payable in respect of him under the provisions of the Act, the employer shall forthwith return his wet-time book to the insured person.

(2) The insured person on the termination of his employment shall apply to the employer for the return of his wet-time book, and on the book being returned to him, shall give to the employer, if he demands it, a receipt for the book.

(3) An employer shall comply with any directions which may be given by the Minister as to the sending to a local office of an insured person's wet-time book or as to its return to the insured person at any other time than on the termination of his employment.

(4) Subject to any directions of or Regulations made by the Minister, the insured person to whom a wet-time book is returned under the foregoing provisions shall, if he is unemployed, or if for any other reason weekly contributions cease to be payable in respect of him under the provisions of the Act, forthwith deliver the book to a local office, there to be retained until weekly contributions again become or are about to become payable in respect of him.

(5) If for any reason the wet-time book is not returned to the insured person in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Regulation on the termination of his employment, or on weekly contributions ceasing for any other reason to be payable in respect of him under the provisions of the Act, the employer shall, as soon as may be, deliver the book to a local office provided that nothing in this paragraph shall relieve the employer of his obligation to comply with paragraph (1) of this Regulation.

8.—(1) Where a certificate of exception is issued to an employer in respect of any class of persons under the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Act the employer shall

(a) identify by a special entry or mark in his records of wages every person who is an excepted person under the provisions of sub-section (2) of that section, and

(b) return to a local office any supplementary unemployment book held by him in respect of such person, and

(c) on request, produce the records referred to at (a) of this paragraph of this Regulation for the examination of an inspector or local officer and furnish such information as to such excepted persons as the Minister may require.

(2) On the termination of the employment of an excepted person his employer shall notify the Minister forthwith and shall remit by registered post any sum due by him under section 50 of the Act.

9. On the death of an insured person any person who has the custody of, or is in possession or control of, the deceased person's wet-time or other supplementary unemployment book shall forthwith deliver the book to a local office.

10.—(1) A wet-time book shall be current during an insurance year or during such other period as the Minister may in any special case or class of case direct, and shall within six days or such longer time as the Minister may in any special case allow, after the date on which it ceases to be current, be returned to a local office by the person for thetime being responsible, in accordance with these Regulations, for the custody of the book, and a fresh book shall thereupon be issued without charge to the person so returning the book :

Provided that, where the wet-time book on the date on which it ceases to be current is in the custody of the employer, he shall, if the insured person so requires, instead of returning it to a local office, return it to the insured person who shall give to the employer, if he demands it, a receipt for the book, and shall himself exchange it at a local office for a fresh book and deliver the fresh book forthwith to the employer :

Provided also that, where the Minister so directs, a wet-time book may be exchanged for a fresh book at any time or in a manner other than that prescribed in this Regulation.

(2) The Minister may cause to be entered on the fresh book issued in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Regulation a statement certifying the number of weekly contributions paid by means of stamps affixed to the wet-time book for the insurance year ended on the day preceding the first day of the period during which the fresh book is current.

(3) A certificate given in accordance with paragraph (2) of this Regulation shall be accepted as sufficient evidence of the truth of the matter so certified.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Regulation the Minister may cause to be amended any certificate given in accordance with paragraph (2) of this Regulation.

11.—(1) If a wet-time book is destroyed, or lost, or is defaced in any material particular, the Minister may issue a new wet-time book in substitution for it.

(2) The Minister may, at his discretion, cause to be entered on the new book so issued a statement certifying that payment was made of such number of weekly contributions as are shown to his satisfaction to have been paid by the affixing of stamps to the book so destroyed, or lost, or defaced, and the dates on which or the period within which such contributions were paid.

(3) Any entry made on a wet-time book in accordance with paragraph (2) of this Regulation shall be accepted as sufficient evidence of the payment of the number of weekly contributions so entered and of the dates on which or the period within which such contributions were paid.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph (3) of this Regulation the Minister may cause to be amended any certificate given in accordance with paragraph (2) of this Regulation.

12.—(1) If any insured person has not delivered or caused to be delivered to his employer a wet-time book in accordance with these Regulations the employer shall obtain a supplementary unemployment book, to be called a " wet-time emergency book ", from a local office, but a wet-time emergency book shall be deemed to be a supplementaryunemployment book only for the purposes of the provisions of these Regulations relating to the stamping of wet-time books and to deductions from wages in respect of stamps affixed by employers and for the purposes of Regulation 19 hereof.

(2) A wet-time emergency book shall be in such form as the Minister may direct and shall be current during such period from the date of the issue thereof, as may be specified thereon, and shall at the end of such period or on the previous termination of the aforesaid person's employment be returned by the employer to the local office from which it was issued :

Provided that if the aforesaid person before such date delivers or causes to be delivered to the employer a wet-time book in accordance with these Regulations, the employer shall forthwith return the wet-time emergency book to the local office from which it was issued.

II.—Method of Payment of Weekly Contributions.

13.—(1) Every weekly contribution payable under the provisions of the Act shall, except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, be paid by the affixing of a supplementary insurance stamp of the appropriate value to the wet-time book of the insured person in the space indicated for that purpose upon the book.

(2) An employer who is liable to pay weekly contributions in respect of any insured person shall pay those weekly contributions at the following times in accordance with the following provisions, that is to say :—

(a) Where he pays to an insured person wages or other pecuniary remuneration in respect of the employment of such insured person he shall, before paying to the insured person the wages or remuneration in respect of the period for which weekly contributions are payable, affix to his wet-time book a stamp or stamps in payment of the weekly contributions due in respect of the period for which the wages are paid.

(b) Where he does not pay to the insured person wages or other pecuniary remuneration in respect of the employment, he shall, on the first day of employment, in each calendar week, affix to the wet-time book of the insured person a stamp in payment of the weekly contribution in respect of that week.

(3) It shall be the duty of the employer in addition to his obligation to comply with any other requirement of the Act or these Regulations to affix to the wet-time book of the insured person—

(a) on the termination of the employment whether or not any wages are then paid ;

(b) within six days after the expiration of the period of currency of the wet-time book ;

a stamp or stamps in payment of all the weekly contributions due from him but still outstanding in respect of the period ending at the date of such termination or expiration.

(4) It shall further be the duty of the employer, on being so required by a local officer or by an inspector, to affix to a supplementary unemployment book to be called a " wet-time arrears book " a stamp or stamps in payment of all the weekly contributions due from him but still outstanding in respect of any insured person who is or has been in his employment and to deliver by hand, or forward by registered post, the wet-time arrears book, when stamped, to the local officer or to the inspector, as the case may be.

(5) No stamp shall be affixed to a supplementary unemployment book otherwise than in respect of insurable employment and any stamp affixed otherwise shall not be deemed to be a payment of a weekly contribution except for the purpose of section 23 of the Act.

(6) An employer shall immediately after affixing a stamp to a supplementary unemployment book cancel the stamp by writing in ink, or stamping with a metallic die with ink or composition, across the face of the stamp the date upon which it is affixed and not otherwise.

14. No person shall affix to a supplementary unemployment book a stamp which has been cancelled or defaced in any way whatever, or which has been removed from any book or any other material to which it was affixed and whether it has been actually used for the purpose of payment of a weekly contribution or not.

15.—(1) The Minister may, if he considers it desirable to do so, cause to be entered on the current wet-time book of an insured person a statement certifying the number of weekly contributions paid in respect of that insured person by means of stamps affixed to a supplementary unemployment book or paid in any other way and the dates on which or the period within which such contribuitons were paid.

(2) A certificate entered in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall be accepted as sufficient evidence of the truth of the matter so certified.

(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph (2) of this Regulation the Minister may cause to be amended any certificate given in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Regulation.

III.—Miscellaneous.

16. Where weekly contributions are not paid by an employer in respect of an employed person by reason of the provisions of subsection (4) of section 18 of the Act, the employer shall furnish to the Minister particulars of that person's employment and of the time during which he was, or is, engaged in insurable and in other employment, and shall furnish such additional information as to the employment as the Minister may require. Such particulars shall be furnished as soon as may be after the commencement of section 18 of the Act, or after the date of engagement, whichever is the later, and again from time to time if and as directed by the Minister.

17. On any occasion on which the number of weekly contributions paid in respect of an insured person is recorded, any fraction of a weekly contribution, whether arising by reason of the affixing of stamps of the wrong kind or of the wrong denomination to a supplementary unemployment book or otherwise, may be disregarded.

18. No person shall assign or charge or agree to assign any supplementary unemployment book, and any sale, transfer or assignment of or any charge on, any such book shall be void and of no effect.

19. No person shall deface or destroy a supplementary unemployment book or alter or amend any of the figures or particulars (other than the address of the insured person) therein contained. For the purposes of this Regulation a person who removes from a supplementary unemployment book a stamp which has been affixed thereto, whether it was affixed for the purpose of the payment of a weekly contribution or not, shall be deemed to have defaced that book.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, this 28th day of January, 1943.

(Signed) R. C. FERGUSON,

Secretary,

Department of Industry and Commerce.