Coronavirus Employment Update 3/4/2020

We have a number of employment news articles related to the Coronavirus this week including:

Legal Island Coronavirus Information in One Place – Latest Advice
https://www.legal-island.ie/employment-law-hub/resources/coronavirus-covid-19/ 

Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Covid-19) Act 2020
This is the Act that has brought in various new powers for government and a number of changes to areas such as residential tenancies, health and social care, temporary wage subsidy provisions and amendments to the Redundancy Payments Act 1967. The date is clearly wrong on the website.
https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2020/4/ 

Wage Subsidy Scheme
The Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme will be operated by Revenue and enables employees, whose employers are affected by the pandemic, to receive significant supports directly from their employer. The scheme is expected to last 12 weeks from 26 March 2020.  The Temporary Wage Subsidy replaces the previous Employer COVID-19 Refund Scheme and provides for a significant increase in the €203 per employee payment that previously applied. Guidance is available here:
https://revenue.ie/en/news/articles/guidance-on-the-temporary-covid-19-wage-subsidy-scheme.aspx    

Employer COVID-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy - Guidance from RDJ
As ever, Ronan Daly Jermyn has excellent guidance on all employment-related coronavirus developments, including the wage subsidy scheme:
https://www.rdj.ie/insights/update--employer-covid-19-temporary-wage-subsidy 

ICTU Hits Back at those Criticising New Bill on Wage Subsidy
Following last week's criticism that the wage subsidy scheme could lead to companies acting illegally, ICTU has issued a strong rebuttal:
https://www.ictu.ie/press/2020/03/31/temporary-wagesubsidy-scheme-is-essential-patricia/ 

Revenue Urges Employers to Update Bank Details
Earlier this week, over 30,000 employers had registered for the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme. Payments of almost €23 million had already issued to employers and a further €11.5 million were to be issued by Wednesday. However, Revenue is asking any employer who is currently awaiting payment from Revenue to check that they have set up a nominated Refund Bank Account in the Revenue On-Line System. More:
https://www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/press-office/press-releases/2020/pr-010420-revenue-urges-employers-registered-for-temporary-wage-subsidy-scheme-to-update-bank-details.aspx 

Temporary Assignment of Duties in Education Sector
The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD has announced a contingency plan for all Special Needs Assistants to be available for a new temporary assignment scheme as part of the Government’s response to Covid-19. A dedicated process has been set up by the Public Appointments Service on publicjobs.ie to put SNAs on standby to free up frontline workers for essential services. The move is part of a wider temporary assignment scheme which is opening for public sector employees.
http://merrionstreet.ie/en/News-Room/Releases/Minister_McHugh_announces_contingency_plans_for_temporary_assignment_arrangements_for_education_and_training_sector_staff.html 

Covid-19 and Essential Services
So, what is an essential service? RDJ outlines what is an essential business and what this means for employers and employees.
https://www.legal-island.ie/articles/ire/features/supplementary/2020/mar/covid-19-and-essential-services/   

Employment Permits System - Contingency Arrangements
The current situation creates the need for change in all sorts of ways, including for those employing workers who require employment permits:
https://dbei.gov.ie/en/Publications/COVID-19-Employment-Permits-System-Contingency-Arrangements.html   

Economic Downturn to Come
We will, of course, get out the other side at some stage. But the economy won't be pretty on that other side, according to Davy:
https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2020/0330/1127402-economy-could-contract-15-in-q2-davy/   

We Need to be Human 
John Hogan from Leman Solicitors discusses the reality of working from home during the Coronavirus lockdown and what that means for how we conduct business. A little gem of an article:
https://thoughtleadership.leman.ie/post/102g36f/mind-your-mind?mc_cid=26283f189b&mc_eid=c6c7c8c45e   

The Pitfalls of Conference Video Calls
Concerned about how you might look in video calls? You should be:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52032849   

Insurance and Consumer Approaches
The Central Bank of Ireland has set out its expectations of how regulated insurance firms should treat their customers in light of the significant economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 public health emergency.
https://www.centralbank.ie/news/article/press-release-dear-ceo-letter-inusrance-covid19-27-march2020   

How To: Handle H.R. During The Pandemic
This guide by Dr Gerry McMahon attempts to acknowledge some of the positive and progressive moves being made to address the fallout, whilst earmarking 5 key areas warranting HR action or policy initiatives designed to minimise that fallout. The article has several links to useful documents and websites that will assist HR professionals:
https://www.legal-island.ie/articles/ire/features/how-to/2020/mar/how-to-handle-hr-during-the-pandemic/   

18 more things to do at home while social distancing
You know that you should really make more of the enforced isolation - you don't want to go back to work regretting this lost opportunity. RTÉ has loads of useful suggestions from 'doing nothing' (not really the point) to book clubs, Google games, podcasts and all kinds of other fun ways to spend your time:
https://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/living/2020/0331/1127536-18-more-things-to-do-at-home-while-social-distancing/