Whether you've been escorted off the premises, or turn up for work to find your boss has gone bust, it pays to know exactly what to do if you lose your job

Apply for the dole right away

BE WARNED - you could have to wait three months or more to get any money.

The dole comes in the form of either Jobseeker’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Benefit. If you are unemployed, single, and have no children, the most you will get on the dole is €204.30 a week. The average wait for the Jobseeker’s Allowance is about five weeks, but the wait is at least twice this in certain areas.

With unemployment at a 10-year high and likely to hit at least 400,000 by the end of this year, social welfare offices are overwhelmed. So the sooner you get your dole application in, the better.

How do I apply?

You apply for the dole at your local social welfare office. To find out where it is, call the Department of Social and Family Affairs on 1890 662244 or visit www.welfare.ie. To be eligible, you must be unemployed, over 18 and under 66 years of age, able to work, available for and genuinely seeking work, and "habitually" living in Ireland.

If applying for the Jobseeker’s Allowance, bring the following documents to your social welfare office: your Personal Public Service Number (PPSN), details of your income and your spouse or partner’s income (if any), your P45, proof of identity and address, details of any children you are providing for, and information about your availability for work and any efforts you have made to get work (such as letters you have written to employers and responses you received from them). If living with your parents, you usually need to bring details of your parents’ income, including any pension either receives.

While the Jobseeker’s Allowance is means tested, the Jobseeker’s Benefit is not—instead, you qualify depending on the amount of social insurance (PRSI) contributions you have paid while working. You’ll need your P45 to apply for Jobseeker’s Benefit and your P60 forms for the last few years. The Jobseeker’s Benefit is designed to cover someone who has had a "substantial loss of employment". Self-employed individuals are not covered by Jobseeker’s Benefit, though they may be covered by Jobseeker’s Allowance.

Beef up your dole

Make sure you get exactly what you’re entitled to. If you have an adult dependant—such as a separated spouse to whom you pay weekly maintenance—you could be entitled to a dole top-up of up to €135.60 a week.

This €135.60 extra (called the "qualified adult rate") is paid to those who provide for their spouse or partner. If you have dependent children, you may be entitled to up to €24 extra per child per week.

BE sure you’RE paid

It’s a nightmare scenario, but it’s happening. People are turning up for work to find their employer has just gone bust. Not only do they no longer have a job, their employer is telling them they cannot afford to pay their wages for the last month, any holiday or sick pay due to them, and pay for statutory notice (in most cases, employers must give employees at least two weeks’ notice if they are to make them redundant).

In this case, do you have any choice but to kiss goodbye to the pay to which you’re entitled?

"If the employer owes wages or benefits to an employee, the liquidator [for the firm] will treat the employee as a preferential creditor," said Ronnie Neville, employment law partner with Dublin law firm Mason Hayes & Curran. "But this is no guarantee that you’ll still get paid."

But don’t panic. If the liquidator finds there is not enough money in the company to pay your wages, you should be able to call on the insolvency payments scheme, a State programme which protects your pay should your employer go bust, as well as any pension contributions which your boss may have taken out of your wages but not paid into the pension scheme.

You must usually make a claim under the insolvency payments scheme through the liquidator or receiver (or the person legally appointed to wind up the business). Your claim will then be sent to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to be processed. The department gives your payment to the liquidator or receiver, who then passes the money on to you.

If you’ve been with your employer for at least two years and have been made redundant, the least you’re entitled to is a statutory redundancy payment of two weeks’ pay for every year of service (up to a weekly limit of €600), plus one further week’s pay (again, up to a €600 limit). If your employer goes bust, you may need to contact the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and arrange your redundancy payment through the Government’s social insurance fund.

"To apply to the social insurance fund, contact the Redundancy Payments section of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment," said Neville.

"Where a liquidator has not yet been appointed and where the employer does not assist the employee in making this claim, the employee may have to first apply to the Employment Appeals Tribunal. Where a liquidator has already been appointed, the liquidator would assist the employee to make the claim."

To contact the Redundancy Payments section, call the National Employment Rights Authority on 1890 808090 or visit the department’s website, www.entemp.ie. You can contact the Employment Appeals Tribunal on 1890 220222 or via www.eatribunal.ie.

What if my COMPANY JUST shutS up shop?

If your employer has not gone bust, but has simply decided to close down, you will not be entitled to a claim under the insolvency payments scheme.

Your boss must still pay you any wages or other benefits due, however. Ask for clarification of your entitlements for pay, notice and redundancy.

Read your employment contract and contact Citizens Information (1890 777 121; website www.citizensinformation.ie) to check your entitlements. If necessary, consider getting legal advice.

Don’t get stung by the TaxMan

Make sure you don’t overpay tax on any redundancy payments received. While the statutory redundancy payment is tax-free, you may have to pay tax on any ex gratia payment.

The amount of tax due will depend on the size of the ex gratia payment, your length of service, salary and benefits, and whether or not you are a member of the company pension scheme. Some of your ex gratia payment will be exempt from tax, including the first €10,160 of the payment, plus €765 for each complete year of service, according to Ernst & Young’s redundancy taxation guide. In some cases, you can pocket more of your ex gratia payment tax-free, such as if you have not received or are not due to receive any lump sum under your company pension. If you pay tax on some of your ex gratia payment, you are taxed at your higher rate of income tax; however, you may be entitled to a tax refund.

Register with Fas

Fas provides guidance and resources for jobseekers, and access to job vacancies. To register, contact your local Fas office, or its head office on 01 607 0500.

Don’t put your feet up

You will still be eligible for the dole if you have casual or part-time work—as long as you work no more than three days a week. However, the amount you earn will usually reduce the amount of dole you can get—as will any income earned by your spouse or partner.

If you’re getting Jobseeker’s Allowance, one way to get around this is to work on Sundays. If earnings made on a Sunday do not exceed the amount you get on the Jobseeker’s Allowance, and you work only on Sundays, your weekly allowance will continue to be the same as it would be if you didn’t work at all, according to a spokeswoman for the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

"Because Sunday doesn’t count as a day of employment for social welfare purposes, we can’t deduct anything [from the Jobseeker’s Allowance] if the person works on Sunday only," she said.

However, money earned by your partner or spouse on a Sunday will affect the allowance. And you must also be genuinely looking for work—not specifically Sunday work.

Louise McBride