The Department of Social Protection has confirmed that they've received 87 complaints about employees refusing to go back to work as the economy reopens.
A spokesman for the Department confirmed that since restrictions eased last month, 87 complaints had been lodged.
With the economy reopening and more people returning to work, the number of recipients of the pandemic unemployment (PUP) continues to fall.
However, some employers have said that they are struggling to get their employees to return to work. In turn, this has led to further discussion about the Living Wage, a topic that Leo Varadkar has discussed at Fine Gael's Ard Fheis.
The Tànaiste said that Ireland's pandemic legacy must be better pay, terms and conditions for all workers - including statutory sick pay, a living wage, an occupational pension and reform of the social welfare system.
People who refuse “an offer of suitable employment” can be taken off the PUP.
This week, the Department of Social Protection issued payments valued at €78.9 million to 267,371 people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP).
This represents a decrease of 17,894 people compared to last week.
However, The Times has reported that Department has received 87 complaints about PUP claimants refusing to return to work.
A spokesman for the Department confirmed that since restrictions eased last month, 87 complaints had been lodged.
The statement reads: "The Department is investigating each case fully to ensure that only those who meet the qualifying conditions for PUP remain in payment.
"The Department is continuing to engage with employer representatives, including the personal services, construction, and the hospitality industries, focusing on getting people back to work. As the economy and businesses reopen with a particular focus on workers in receipt of the PUP income support."
Speaking about the latest PUP figures, Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys said: "This week, we have seen another fall in the number of people receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment as we continue to make progress in reopening our economy and suppressing the virus.
“In fact, there are now over 214,000 fewer people being supported by the PUP compared to the second week of February. Over the past seven days alone, almost 24,000 people closed their PUP claims in order to return to work. Therefore, we are expecting further falls in the overall PUP numbers in the weeks ahead.
The department has consistently reminded workers who are returning to work that they must close their claim for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment on the actual date that they start back at work.
This reminder is issued in order to ensure that claims are processed correctly and to avoid incurring an overpayment.
As stated by the Department of Social Protection, they "will take steps to recover" any employed individual that continues to draw a PUP payment.
In terms of the process that the Department uses to check PUP claims, they say: "The department conducts a series of pre and post-payment checks on all PUP claims which include continuing eligibility checks. Subject to these checks being cleared the department then processes payments based on the clients’ self-declaration.
"The department runs post-payment checks that include verifying data against Revenue records, examining cases where the same Bank account is used multiple times, examining cases where an employer or members of the public report concerns, and the use of data analytics to identify and check claims. It also undertakes employer inspections.
"This work is undertaken by the department’s Special Investigation Unit, which includes over 20 Gardaí on secondment to the department."
