Redundancy Payments Act, 1967

Other payments to employees from Redundancy Fund.

32.—(1) When an employee claims that an employer is liable to pay to him a lump sum under section 19 and either that—

(a) the employee has taken all reasonable steps (other than legal proceedings) to obtain the payment of the lump sum from the employer and the employer has refused or failed to pay it or has paid part of it and has refused or failed to pay the balance, or

(b) the employer is insolvent and the whole or part of the lump sum remains unpaid,

the employee may apply to the Minister for a payment under this section.

(2) If on an application under this section the Minister is satisfied that an employee is entitled to a lump sum under section 19 which remains unpaid either in whole or in part, the Minister shall pay to the employee out of the Redundancy Fund so much of the lump sum as remains unpaid.

(3) Upon the payment by the Minister of a payment under this section all rights and remedies of the employee with respect to the lump sum concerned or, if the Minister has paid part of it, with respect to that part, shall thereupon stand transferred to and become vested in the Minister and any moneys recovered by the Minister by virtue of this subsection shall be paid into the Redundancy Fund; provided, however, that where an employer is insolvent, the Minister shall be entitled to claim in the bankruptcy, arrangement, administration of the insolvent estate or winding up (as the case may be) in respect of, and only in respect of, a sum (if any) equal to the amount of the payment made by the Minister under this section less the amount of the rebate that would have been payable to the employer from the Redundancy Fund under section 29 if the employer had paid the lump sum to the employee.

(4) For the purpose of this section an employer shall be deemed to be insolvent if—

(a) the employer has been adjudicated bankrupt, has filed a petition for arrangement or has executed a deed of arrangement (within the meaning of section 4 of the Deeds of Arrangement Act, 1887 ),

(b) the employer has died and his estate, being insolvent, is being administered in accordance with the rules set out in Part I of the First Schedule to the Succession Act, 1965 , or

(c) the employer is a company, and the company is insolvent and being wound up.