# If I set up a co, can I employ tradesmen for 1-3 days/wk without them loosing SW?



## in the mire (4 Apr 2011)

Hi folks
move if i'm not in correct forum.

My question is, I want to set up a business and I expect to employ trades of different types on a temp basis until i get established. 

I understand that i can only employ for up to 3 days a week and after that the person looses their entitlements (money) for that week, but do they also loose their other entitlements like med card etc? 

I suppose what i am asking is will people want to work for me 1-3 days a week (not every week) without loosing what they get from SW?


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## Ildánach (4 Apr 2011)

It will depend on people's circumstances, there is no way to know without knowing whether working for you will benefit the people without knowing the specific details of your prospective employees.  In general the system works to make part-time work pay for people receiving most social welfare payments, but there are those who are not any better off.

As for medical card holders, if they have been in receipt of a qualifying social welfare payment for 12 months they will retain their medical card for three years when they take up employment that pushes them above the income levels, so in many cases losing medical card is not going to be a major concern (at least for the next three years).

There are different considerations like this to nearly all the different kinds of primary and secondary benefits, so without going into the specifics of each scheme it is impossible to give a general advice, but saying that if the employment is for 3 days or under a week, and stays under 30 hours, then people should at least be able to keep any entitlement to Jobseekers and Rent Supplement which are probably the two biggest factors you would want to consider.  But then again, not everyone gets rent supplement.  You can see the problem in addressing your query already.  Its never as straight forward as you think, and there can be some more obscure social welfare payments that you might be aware of.  

In general, you need to consider

- the primary Jobseekers/One Parent payment
- the effect on a partner/spouse's payment
- Rent Supplement/Mortgage Interest Supplement
- Fuel Allowance
- Medical Card
- Back to School Clothing and Footware Allowance
- Family Income Supplement
- Corporation/Council Rent and waivers provided to unemployed by local authorities, eg bin charges which vary county to county

And there are others.


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## in the mire (4 Apr 2011)

Thanks for your comprehensive reply, ya i agree it does depend on peoples circumtances but i was trying to get an overall idea of what is involved, I suppose when i do go and interview people and after explaining what i require of them then they will have to make the decision based on their entitlements etc.. Thanks again


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## ali (4 Apr 2011)

in the mire said:


> Thanks for your comprehensive reply, ya i agree it does depend on peoples circumtances but i was trying to get an overall idea of what is involved, I suppose when i do go and interview people and after explaining what i require of them then they will have to make the decision based on their entitlements etc.. Thanks again


 

Hi. In general at the moment there are many tradespeople who will be very grateful to get any work at all and many will not be entitled to SW due to being previously self employed so loss of entitlements will not be an issue. If you are paying a fair rate you should not have any issue with lack of applicants.

A.


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## in the mire (5 Apr 2011)

Thanks Ali
I suppose i'm just looking to see if there is a problem with my plan regarding hiring people part time,my biz plan will be based on this situation so if there is some unforseen problem i'd like to know about it now sooner rather than later


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## ajapale (20 Apr 2011)

17:09, 20th Apr 2011     ajapale     Thread title (original 'employing!') changed to *If I set up a co, can I employ tradesmen for 1-3 days/wk without them loosing SW?*


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## computerman (29 May 2011)

Correct me if Im wrong, but if you are employing a trades man for short periods of time (under three days) and over irregular periods, would said tradesman be construed as a contractor (sub), and as such be self employed.
Contractor should issue an invoice and be paid accordingly ..........


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