Overview: leaving work

If you are leaving work because you have lost your job you may have been made redundant or you may have been dismissed. If you are made redundant this means you have lost your job due to circumstances such as the closure of the business or a reduction in the number of staff. Dismissal is when your contract of employment is ended. If you are dismissed by your employer and you have not been made redundant you may be able to claim unfair dismissal.

Redundancy

You can be made redundant for a number of reasons such as the financial position of the firm, lack of work, reorganisation within the firm or it may be closing down completely. If you are one of a number of employees being made redundant it may be a collective redundancy. This would mean your employer is required to consult with your representatives about the redundancy situation. Sometimes there is a voluntary redundancy situation when an employer needs to reduce the workforce and asks for some employees to volunteer for redundancy.

If you have worked for your employer for 2 years you may be entitled to a redundancy payment. Redundancy payments legislation provides for a minimum redundancy payment for employees who have a set period of service with their employer. You and your employer may agree a redundancy payment which is above this statutory minimum.

There are specific procedures your employer must follow when making you redundant such as giving you at least 2 weeks' notice and paying your redundancy payment on the date you finish work.

Dismissal

If you are dismissed and it is not a redundancy situation you should find out more about your rights under the unfair dismissals legislation. Apart from some exceptions, you must have at least 12 months' continuous service with your employer in order to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. In most cases your employer has to prove that the dismissal was a fair one, that is, that there were fair grounds for the dismissal and that fair procedures were followed.

Redundancy is considered a fair ground for dismissal but selection for redundancy based on certain grounds such as pregnancy or religious or political opinions is considered an unfair ground. You are entitled to bring a claim for unfair dismissal if you think that you were unfairly selected for redundancy or consider that a genuine redundancy situation did not exist. However if you make a claim for unfair dismissal, you cannot also claim redundancy.

Entitlements

When you lose your job you have certain entitlements. You are entitled to a statutory minimum period of notice if you have worked at least 13 weeks for your employer. Your written contract of employment may provide for a longer period of notice. When you leave work you are entitled to receive a payment for annual leave which you have earned but not taken. The ending of employment is the only situation where it is legal to pay an employee instead of giving annual leave. If you leave work just before a public holiday you may be entitled to an additional day’s pay for the public holiday.

Your employer must give you forms P45 and P60 which are statements of your pay and the tax and PRSI deducted by your employer. You get a P45 when your job ends and you get a P60 at the end of each tax year.