# 5 Day Week cut to 3 Days - What are my entitlements



## paw1

I have worked in an office full time for the past 25 years but now business has been affected by the downtown in the economy and the boss needs to cut back on the wages bill. He has asked for everyone to now work just 3 days a week ( so he doesn't have to lay anyone off) While the rest of the girls have agreed to do this, I am worried as my husband was laid off over 2 years ago and his JB is finished therefore we only have my wage.

Can someone tell my what my entitlements would be for the 2 days I'm not working and also could I now claim something for my husband, I have rang 2 different SW offices but I am being told different things, I assume that there very busy cos a lot of people are being laid off but they don't give you time to ask any questions.

Any advice would be great.


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## liketoknow

i am nearly sure you can claim the dole for the two days you arent working


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## Welfarite

The SW week is 6 days, Mon to Sat, so you will be entitled to "sign on" for the other 3 days (or 4 if one of your working days is a Sunday). go to your local SW office on the first day you are not working (the others will be doing the same presumably).

You say your husbands JB is finished. Did he calim JA or continue to sign for credits? He should enquire 9why not go in together?) about his situation now that your employment situ has changed and income has reduced. 

If you have kids, have you checked out FIS possible entitlement?


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## paw1

Thanks for the reply but I wanted to know exactly how much I qualify for and if I can claim for my husband and again how much and how long does it last. As I now need to budget for the future.


Thanks


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## paw1

Sorry Welfarite my post was a reply to liketoknow.

The SW rate seems to be €197.80 for the week so is this divided by 5 or 6 to work out the daily rate. My working week was Mon-Fri


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## Welfarite

Daily rate is one sixth of weekly rate. presumably you will be be working the same days every week? You could claim a qualified adult allownce for your husband (131.30 per week) but I would advise checking out his personal entitlements situation too. At the very least, he should already be signing for credits in order to preserve pension adn future benfit entitlements.


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## mcb

Hi
If you have been cut from five days to three days than you can claim Job seekers benefit for the days that you are not working.  You need to go to your social welfare office with letter from employer stating that he has reduced your days,passport, utility bills.  What your employer is doing is putting you on short time leave.  You need him to fill out a form called rp9 (you can download from internet).  After four consecutive weeks of doing the reduced days you can ask your employer to make you redundant or bring you back to your original full time week.  
Hope this is of some help


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## paw1

Thanks Welfarite,


This is where the confusion arose as one SW office said I would be entitled to two fifths of the weekly rate i.e €79.12 and another said two sixths i.e.€65.92 so thanks for clearing that up.


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## Welfarite

paw1 said:


> Thanks Welfarite,
> 
> 
> This is where the confusion arose as one SW office said I would be entitled to two fifths of the weekly rate i.e €79.12 and another said two sixths i.e.€65.92 so thanks for clearing that up.




You will be entitled to three sixths! (197.80/6*3=98.90)

E.G. working Mon, Tues, Weds entitles you to claim Thurs,Fri, Sat


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## mickeyg

Is this JS amount the same for everyone i.e. is it regardless of the salary a person was on when working a "full" week?


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## Welfarite

mickeyg said:


> Is this JS amount the same for everyone i.e. is it regardless of the salary a person was on when working a "full" week?


You must sustain a substantial loss of employment. You are regarded as having sustained a substantial loss of employment if  they have lost at least one day in any period of 6 days, provided reckonable earnings or reckonable income are reduced as a consequence of the loss of employment.


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## Welfarite

Paw1, I am very very sorry...I was giving you wrong info about number of days payable. It is one-fifth of the weekly entitlement, not one-sixth.....in your case yopu will get two-fifths. Profuse apologies for misleading you....

I found this on the www.welfare.ie site after a bit of searching:


"*Rate/Days of Payment for Short-time Claimants*
The number of days of JB payable each week to a short-time worker is limited to ensure that the total number of days paid and the number of days worked do not exceed five. The amount of JB payable in respect of each day of unemployment is one-fifth of the appropriate weekly JB rate.
*EXAMPLE:*
A single person's working pattern is reduced from 5 days a week (Monday- Friday) to 3 days a week (Monday - Wednesday).
2 days JB are payable @ 1/5 JB weekly rate in respect of each day."


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## mcb

Hi
There seems to be a bit of confusion here.  i am currently on job seekers benefit as my days were reduced from five days to three days.  I work mon,tues, weds and I get three days job seekers benefit as SW base it on a six day week.  A full week of job seekers benefit, ie Mon-Sat is 197.80, so for the three days i do not work i get 98.90 per week from SW.
Hope that clears some things up for you.


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## paw1

Thanks all for the replies, but once again there seems to be two different outcomes.

Welfarite - According to your calculations I will get two fifths of the weekly rate of 197.80 which would be 79.12

mcb - You yourself are currently in the same situation as I will be shortly but you are getting 3 days SW which works out at 98.90

Obviously I would rather be getting the higher amount but can someone explain why the difference and which is correct for my situation.


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## mcb

As previously posted this is what i get

Job Seekers Benefit is based on a six day week ( that is Mon to Saturday)
The weekly payment is 197.80
Daily pay is 32.96 (weekly payment of 197.80 / 6)

Even though I have been reduced from five days work to three days work, and am down two days pay, I actually get 3 days benefit from SW as I am not working on a Saturday either.

When you go on Job Seekers Benefit you get a card to fill out what days you do not work.  Therefore I mark on card that I do not work Thurs, Fri and Sat (sunday is not on the card) and I therefore get three days benefit.

Hope I have cleared that up. I do not see why the OP would be any different from what i recieve.


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## paw1

Thanks mcb, fingers crossed that I can get the same as you as every bit helps


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## mcb

You should get the same Paw1.  Also did you read my post about getting your employer to fill out the short time leave form.  Has employer informed you how long you will be on these reduced days for?


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## paw1

Yes I am going to give the form to him, but he is not sure how long this short term leave will be for, basically it depends if business picks up. If not I could be on 3 days a week for the forseeable future.


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