Protected Leave and The Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)
EMPLOYER UPDATE
TEMPORARY WAGE SUBSIDY SCHEME
MATERNITY RELATED AND OTHER PROTECTED BENEFITS
Over recent weeks it has been identified that the TWSS was unable to recognise persons on Protected leave who were not paid within the pay periods used for assessment. This has now been addressed on the 8th June. The changes are detailed below:
INCLUSION FOR BENEFIT
Where an employee returning to work after Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity or Parental leave, or directly related unpaid leave, or having received Health and Safety, Parent's or Illness benefit, it is understood that in some cases their income during the pay periods used for assessment, may have only consisted of the relevant benefit paid directly by DEASP, or may have been nil, where the employee, was on unpaid leave. As a result, the employee may not have been on the payroll on the 29 February, or been paid in January or February 2020 and, consequently, either did not qualify for the TWSS or qualified for a reduced subsidy.
WHAT CAN AN EMPLOYER APPLY FOR?
An eligible employer can request Revenue to treat an employee as an eligible employee for the purposes of this scheme where that employee returns (or is due to return in the coming weeks) to employment following; Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity or Parental leave, or directly related unpaid leave, or having been in receipt of Health and Safety, Parent's, or Illness benefit paid by DEASP for the month of February 2020.
An eligible employer wishing to include these employees in the scheme must make a request to include that employee in the scheme and provide details to Revenue through ROS MyEnquiries.
As part of the process the employer will confirm that the employee has returned to employment and, for the month of February 2020, was on Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity or Parental leave, or directly related unpaid leave, or was in receipt of Health and Safety, Parent's or Illness benefit.
WHAT WILL REVENUE PAY?
On receipt of each request, Revenue will check DEASP data to ensure that the employee was in receipt of Maternity, Adoptive, Paternity, Health and Safety, Parent's or Illness benefit payments or was off the payroll after receiving such benefits, whether the employee has returned to work and, also previous payroll submissions to ensure previous gross pay is comparable with that declared in the downloadable form by the employer. Revenue will determine a “Calculated Revenue Net Weekly Pay” (CRNWP) for each employee concerned. This is equivalent to the Average Revenue Net Weekly Pay (ARNWP) used in TWSS.
Using the CRNWP, Revenue will calculate the relevant employee’s Maximum Weekly Wage Subsidy (MWWS) and will provide this, along with other necessary information, to the employer.
MULTIPLE EMPLOYMENTS
Where a returning employee has more than one employment, Revenue will calculate the CRNWP at employment and employee level and provide information to each employer on the MWWS applicable for that employment. The subsidy will be backdated to the date of recommencement of employment or from 26 March 2020, whichever is the latest date.
EMPLOYEES RETURNING FROM LAY-OFF
In the case of individuals who had been in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP), no retrospection will apply for the periods the individuals had been in receipt of these income support payments. However, a subsidy may be included in future wage payments during the period of the scheme if the employee is no longer in receipt of PUP and has returned to employment.
Where a person has been paid their full pay and benefit entitlements while absent, the employer does not have to apply as, in these cases, full payroll details for this employee for January and February 2020 are available and these employees are already eligible for the scheme.
Revenue have stated that they will make best efforts to process applications for employees under these arrangements within a matter of days, with a view to finalising any claims for the employer’s next payroll run. Refunds in respect of previous pay dates will take longer to process and are expected to take a number of weeks.
More detailed information can obtained from: https://www.revenue.ie/en/employing-people/documents/pmod-topics/guidance-on-operation-of-twss.pdf
FURTHER DETAILS ON THE UPDATE OR ABOUT OUR SERVICES MAY BE OBTAINED FROM:
JOHN BARRY/TARA DALY/ HUGH HEGARTY AT TEL: 01 8870690
