1046. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the steps his Department is taking to address to the increasingly widespread use of fire and rehire practices and mass redundancies across the tech sector in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57485/26]

Ireland has a robust suite of employment rights legislation in place to protect workers who may be impacted by redundancy or the loss of their job.

The rules governing collective redundancies are set out in the Protection of Employment Act 1977, as amended. Under the 1977 Act, collective redundancies arise where, during any period of 30 consecutive days, the employees being made redundant are:

5 employees where 21-49 are employed; 10 employees where 50-99 are employed; 10% of the employees where 100-299 are employed; and 30 employees where 300 or more are employed.

The 1977 Act imposes a number of obligations on an employer that proposes a collective redundancy. This includes undertaking a 30-day information and consultation process with the employees’ representatives and notifying the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment of the proposed redundancies at least 30 days before they take effect.

Employees with more than a year’s service can also seek an adjudication from the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015, which lays down criteria by which dismissals are to be judged unfair. In general, dismissal of an employee due to redundancy is not deemed to be an unfair dismissal for the purposes of the Unfair Dismissals Acts. In such cases, an employer must be able to demonstrate that the redundancy is genuine and the selection criteria and the redundancy process is substantively and procedurally fair.

In respect of "fire and rehire" practices, the purpose of the Unfair Dismissals Acts is to protect employees from being unfairly dismissed from their employment by laying down criteria by which dismissals are to be judged unfair. They provide an adjudication system and redress for an employee whose dismissal has been found to be unfair. The Acts specifically state that the dismissal of an employee following by their re-employment by the same employer not later than 26 weeks after the dismissal shall not operate to break the continuity of service of the employee with the employer.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is the organisation which is mandated to secure compliance with employment rights legislation. Employees have the right to refer complaints to the WRC on a wide range of employment law breaches for an adjudication and compensation where appropriate. This includes the right to make a complaint where they believe their employer has failed to fulfil its obligations under the Protection of Employment Act 1977 or the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977-2015.

In most cases, complaints to the WRC must be made within 6 months of the alleged breach. The WRC may extend this time period to 12 months if the employee can demonstrate reasonable cause. The WRC’s Customer Service and Information Unit can provide further information in relation to employment rights and obligations and can be contacted at www.workplacerelations.ie or by phone on 059-9178990 or Lo Call 0818 80 80 90.