Social Welfare (No. 2) Act, 1976
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Amendment of section 51 of Act of 1942. |
8.—The following section is hereby substituted for section 51 of the Act of 1942, which contains general provisions relating to offences under that Act: | |
“51.—(1) (a) If any person— | ||
(i) buys, sells or offers for sale, takes or gives in exchange, or pawns or takes in pawn any supplementary unemployment card, supplementary unemployment book or any used supplementary insurance stamp, | ||
(ii) affixes any used supplementary insurance stamp to any supplementary unemployment card or supplementary unemployment book, or | ||
(iii) affixes to any supplementary unemployment card or supplementary unemployment book a forged or counterfeit supplementary insurance stamp, | ||
he shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(b) If any person, for the purposes of obtaining any supplementary benefit or payment or repayment under this Act, whether for himself or some other person, or for any purpose connected with this Act— | ||
(i) knowingly makes any false statement or false representation or knowingly conceals any material fact, or | ||
(ii) produces or furnishes, or causes or knowingly allows to be produced or furnished, any document or information which he knows to be false in a material particular, | ||
he shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(c) Where a person aids, abets, counsels or procures an employee of his to commit any offence under paragraph (a) or (b) of this subsection or conspires with the employee for the commission by the employee of any such offence, | ||
such person shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(d) A person who is guilty of an offence under this subsection shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £2,000 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment. | ||
(e) In any proceedings under this subsection in respect of used supplementary insurance stamps, a supplementary insurance stamp shall be deemed to have been used if it has been affixed to a supplementary unemployment card or supplementary unemployment book or has been cancelled or defaced in any way, and whether or not it has actually been used for the purpose of payment of a weekly contribution. | ||
(2) (a) If any employer fails to pay at or within a prescribed time any weekly contribution which he is liable under this Act to pay, he shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(b) If any employer deducts or attempts to deduct the whole or any part of any employer's contribution in respect of a person from that person's remuneration, the employer shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(c) If any employer makes a deduction from the remuneration of a person in respect of any weekly contribution which the employer is liable under this Act to pay, and fails to pay at or within a prescribed time the weekly contribution in respect of which the deduction was made, the employer shall be guilty of an offence. | ||
(d) A person who is guilty of an offence under this subsection shall be liable— | ||
(i) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £500 or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, or | ||
(ii) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £2,000 or such amount as is equivalent to twice the amount so unpaid or deducted, whichever is the greater, or (at the discretion of the court) to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment. | ||
(3) Regulations may provide for offences consisting of contraventions of or failures to comply with regulations and for the imposition, at the discretion of the court— | ||
(a) on summary conviction of such offences, of fines not exceeding specified amounts of not more than £500 or of imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or of both such fines and such imprisonment, or | ||
(b) on conviction on indictment of such offences, of fines not exceeding specified amounts of not more than £2,000 or of imprisonment for terms not exceeding two years, or of both such fines and such imprisonment, together with, in the case of continuing offences, further such fines in respect of each day on which the offences are continued. | ||
(4) (a) Where an employer has been convicted under this section of the offence of failing to pay any weekly contributions which he is liable under this Act to pay, he shall be liable to pay to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund a sum equal to the amount which he has so failed to pay and, on such a conviction, if notice of the intention to do so has been served with the summons or warrant, evidence may be given of the failure on the part of the employer to pay other weekly contributions in respect of the same person during the three years preceding the date when the information was so laid, and on proof of such failure the court may order the employer to pay to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund a sum equal to the total of all the weekly contributions which he is so proved to have failed to pay, and the employer's right of appeal against the conviction under the section shall include a right to appeal against such an order. | ||
(b) Any sum paid by an employer under this subsection shall be treated as a payment in satisfaction of the unpaid weekly contributions, and the insured person's portion of these weekly contributions shall not be recoverable by the employer from the insured person. | ||
(5) (a) In any proceedings under this section or under regulations made under this section or involving any question as to the payment of weekly contributions under this Act or the recovery of any sums due to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund, the provisions of section 57 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (which relates to the effect of decisions under that Act) shall apply in like manner, but with the necessary modifications, in relation to a decision under this Act which is relevant to such proceedings. | ||
(b) The provisions of section 56 of the Social Welfare Act, 1952 (which relates to certificates of decisions under that Act) shall apply in relation to a decision made pursuant to this Act or regulations made thereunder. | ||
(6) Any sum that an employer is liable to pay under subsection (4) of this section or any sum due to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund for which a court has made an order for payment may, without prejudice to other methods of recovery, be deducted by the Minister from any sums payable out of the Supplementary Unemployment Fund to that employer under this Act and any amounts so deducted shall be paid by the Minister into the Supplementary Unemployment Fund. | ||
(7) Nothing in this section or in regulations made under this section shall be construed as preventing the Minister from recovering by means of civil proceedings any sums due to the Supplementary Unemployment Fund and all such sums shall be recoverable as debts due to the State and without prejudice to any other remedy may be recovered by the Minister as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.”. |