Analysis: Unions get result on redundancy payments freeze

Cabinet has signed off on an enhanced redundancy payment for workers which will take account of time they spent on the PUP

Patricia King, the head of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, has said workers should not be punished for losing their jobs during the pandemic

The trade unions have been lobbying the government about the freeze on redundancy payments for months – and they have finally got a result.

Under the state’s employment laws, all workers are legally entitled to two weeks’ pay per year of service when made redundant, up to a maximum of €600 per week.

But workers who have spent up to a year on the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) would not have been able to count ...