Social Welfare (Consolidation) Act, 1981

Employment contributions.

[1966 OI, s. 36; 1978 AM, s. 16]

65.—(1) Every person, irrespective of age, who is employed in insurable (occupational injuries) employment shall be an employed contributor and references in this Act to an employed contributor shall be construed accordingly.

(2) (a) In relation to an employed contributor who, but for subsection (1), would not be an employed contributor—

(i) in case he is under the age of 16 years, no employment contributions shall be payable,

(ii) in any other case (including a case in which he is over pensionable age) where in any contribution year a payment is made to or for the benefit of the contributor in respect of reckonable earnings of that contributor, the employment contribution shall consist of an employer's contribution only at the rate of 0.45 per cent. of the amount of the contributor's reckonable earnings to which such payment relates.

(b) In relation to an employed contributor who is an employed contributor by virtue of both section 5 and subsection (1) of this section, the employment contribution mentioned in section 10 (1) (b) (ii) shall be increased by an amount calculated at the rate of 0.45 per cent of the amount of the reckonable earnings by reference to which the employment contribution mentioned in section 10 (1) (b) (ii) is determined.

(3) The provisions of sections 10 (1) (c) and 10 (1) (d) shall apply in like manner to contributions under subsection (2) of this section as they apply to contributions by employers under section 10 (1) (b).

[1970, s. 20; 1973, s. 19]

(4) An employment contribution payable by virtue of subsection (2) (a) (ii) shall not be reckoned for the purposes of qualifying or requalifying any person for any of the benefits referred to in section 17 .

(5) The occupational injuries insurance of any person shall be disregarded in determining his right to become, or to continue to be, a voluntary contributor and the rate of voluntary contribution payable in any case shall not be affected by such insurance.