September 30, 2010
Listener's questions answered - September 30, 2010
Midland Radio 3
Thursday 30th September 2010
Citizens Information Slot
Question 1
Thomas in Portarlington is wondering if he works 2 hours a day for 3 days will he lose 3 days dole?
Answer 1
The answer to that is very simple if he is on Jobseekers payment he will lose his 3 days payment. The rational behind that is that you are not available to take up full time employment on that day.
Question 2
Rose is wondering how to apply for a top up college grant for someone who is in their second year of college?
Answer 2
I am wondering if this person already had the grant and are enquiring about the special grant in addition to the ordinary grant.
Applicants must have qualified for the ordinary maintenance grant for the academic year 2010/2011 and total reckonable income in the tax year January to December 2009 must not have exceeded €22,703, net of Qualified Child Increases and standard exclusions.
For students, including mature students who are assessed on parent(s)/guardian income, their parent(s)/guardian must, on 31 December 2009, have been:
- Claiming long-term social welfare payments, or
- Claiming Family Income Supplement or
- Participating in designated programmes (for example, a FÁS training programme).
For students who are assessed on their own income, on 31 December 2009 the student must have been getting an eligible (long-term) social welfare payment (including long-term Jobseeker's Allowance) or Family Income Supplement or participating in a designated programme.
Question 3
How do you know how much child maintenance you should be paying for a 7 year old when you earn €325 a week?
Answer 3
There is a legal responsibility in
If both parties agree, the amount of maintenance to be paid can be agreed between the parties. If the parties cannot agree on the amount of maintenance to be paid, it will be necessary to apply to the District or Circuit Court, depending on the amount of maintenance that is sought.
At present, the District Court can award any amount up to €500 per week for a spouse, and €150 per week for each child.
The Judge will take into consideration the financial and housing circumstances of the person from whom the maintenance is being sought.
Question 4
Pat’s jobseekers benefit runs out in December and her husband earns €600 a week, what will she be entitled to?
Answer 4
It is very unlikely that she will receive any payment from SW welfare as her husbands income will be taken into consideration in the means test. If they have children her husband might be able to claim FIS.
Question 5
Can my boyfriend claim social welfare for me and my two kids?
Answer 5
If you are co-habiting and you are a dependent of his and are not claiming a SW payment in your own right he could claim for you and the children as dependents.
Question 6
Maureen gets carers allowance for looking after my father. We live in the family home which is in my brothers name. He is working. Are we entitled 2 a tv licence?
Answer 6
If your brother is not living at home it would seem that you will be entitled to the household budget Package, which includes a free television licence and telephone allowance, but in order to claim the free electricity allowance the account would need to be in your name or your father’s name and then either of you could claim.
Question 7
Christy in Clara is wondering would he be entitled to fuel allowance as he is on illness benefit for 7 months.
Answer 7
A Fuel Allowance is a payment under the National Fuel Scheme to help with the cost of heating your home. It is paid to people who are dependant on long-term social welfare or Health Service Executive (HSE) payments and who are unable to provide for their own heating needs.
The scheme operates for 32 weeks from September to the end of April.
Only one payment is paid to a household.
You must be in receipt of a long term SW payment. Unfortunately illness benefit is not regarded as a long term payment.
And
You live alone or only with:
- A dependent spouse/partner and/or dependent children
- Other people getting one of the qualifying payments who would also be eligible for a Fuel Allowance in their own right
- A person who gives you full-time care and attention if you have a disability
- Person(s) getting short-term Jobseeker's Allowance
- Person getting Carer's Allowance
Question 8
Hi Will I am wondering if you are given a bad hair cut by a hairdresser what can you do? Is the hairdresser obliged to fix the problem free of charge?
Answer 8
If the service you received was not the service that you expected then you would have a case. I wonder though why did you agree to pay for the haircut if you were not pleased with it.
Question 9
If you are caught for having no TV licence how long have you got to pay the fine before you are brought to court?
Answer 9
I would say pay the fine as soon as you can. It can take up to 3 months before the case would go to court, but this is only an estimate and each court has different waiting times. In the meantime she could contact the court clerk, who are usually very helpful and ask how long it might be and if the period is too short, she can ask for an extension which should help her to get the money together. if you have any difficulty getting the money together contact MABS and they may be able to help.
Question 10
A listener is taking a lot of verbal abuse from their boss and is often ridiculed in front of other members of staff. What can they do about it?
Answer 10
This would appear to me to be a classic case of bullying at work.
Bullying is repeated inappropriate behaviour that undermines your right to dignity at work. It is usually done by one person and aimed at a person or group to make them feel inferior to other people. Bullying can be verbal bullying, physical bullying or otherwise and it can take many different forms such as:
- Social exclusion and isolation
- Damaging someone’s reputation by gossip or rumours
- Intimidation
- Aggressive or obscene language
- Repeated requests with impossible tasks or targets
Bullying in the workplace can affect both the safety and the health of employees. Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (pdf) employers have a duty to ensure the health and safety of their employees in the workplace. Under section 8 of the Act your employer is required to “prevent any improper conduct or behaviour likely to put the safety, health and welfare of employees at risk”.
You should begin by making it very clear to the person concerned that you find his behaviour unacceptable and undermining. If this informal approach is not enough to resolve the issue and in situations where the bullying continues, you may need to consider making a formal complaint. You should report the bullying to a manager. Your employer's policy on bullying should clearly set out what will happen when a formal complaint is made, how the complaint will be investigated and who will carry out the investigation, taking into account issues of confidentiality and the rights of both parties.
If you feel that your complaint about bullying has not been dealt with properly by your employer, the Health and Safety Authority Code of Practice states that you may bring your complaint to the Rights Commissioner Service under the Industrial Relations Acts 1969-2001, using the Rights Commissioner complaint form (pdf).
One of the following options may also be available to you:
Employment equality: If you are being bullied in relation to one of the 9 grounds for discrimination, you can bring your case to the Equality Tribunal. You can make a complaint under the Employment Equality Acts using form EE1 (pdf) which is available from the Equality Tribunal.
Health and safety: If your workplace does not have an adequate bullying policy you can make a formal complaint about this to the Workplace Contact Unit of the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) – see ‘Where to apply’ below.
If you feel you are being bullied you make a complaint about your rights under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act to the Rights Commissioner Service. The complaint form (pdf) can be downloaded from the website of the Labour Relations Commission.
Question 11
A caller in Laois has a shop and they believe a member of staff is stealing cash from the till but they have no proof of it. Can they fire this member of staff?
Answer 11
I think it might be risky to dismiss them without proof.
As an employer you must prove that the dismissal was a fair one, that is, that there were fair grounds for the dismissal and that fair procedures were followed.
Under the unfair dismissals legislation you may be asked by the employee for a written statement of the reasons for dismissal. You must provide this within 14 days of the request.
Fair grounds for dismissal includes anything considered to be Gross misconduct may give rise to instant (summary) dismissal without notice or pay in lieu of notice. Examples of gross misconduct include stealing..
You will need to investigate the situation adequately to obtain all the facts of the case.