Medical Cards

I have been on Unemployment Assistance (dole) for the last three years.
If I take up a full time or part time job, will I lose the medical card? At the moment my whole family has the medical card (myself, spouse and three children). My wife is not working.

In the 1996 budget the Government announced that people who have been unemployed for at least one year would keep their medical card for three years, regardless of income, if they take up a job. This decision came into effect on January 23, 1996.

You can keep your medical card regardless of income, if you:

· have been unemployed for at least 12 months and you, or your spouse, takes up insurable employment (i.e. a job that pays at least £30 gross per week). The family keeps their medical card for three years after the job starts. Time spent on the Live Register and/or approved schemes or courses for the long-term unemployed is treated as a period of unemployment.
· have been receiving a One Parent Family Payment for at least 12 months and you take up insurable employment. You will keep the medical card for three years after the job starts.
· are on the Back to Work Allowance, Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, or Job Assist schemes you will keep your medical card for the duration of the scheme.
· participate on any of the following schemes or courses for the long-term unemployed:
· Job Initiative
· Part-time Education Scheme
· Community Employment
· Rate for the Job Scheme
· 2nd Level Certificate Course
· Pilot Programme for Employment of People with Disabilities
· Job Start
· VTOS
· STEP
· Third Level Allowance
· Partnership and Community Group Initiative
You will keep your medical card for the duration of the scheme.

Holidays for part-time workers

I am a regular part-time worker. I have been working for 20 hours per week for the last two years. What holidays am I entitled to?

Regular part-time workers i.e. workers who:

(a) have worked for at least 13 weeks for the same employer and,
(b) is normally expected to work for at least 8 hours per week for the same employer

is entitled to the following holidays under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997. 8 hours leave for every 100 hours worked (subject to a maximum of four working weeks) from the leave year 1999/2000. So if you worked 500 hours in a leave year, you would be entitled to 40 hours leave. Time spent on annual leave is counted as working time when calculating holiday entitlements. The statutory leave year is from April 1 - March 31. (An employer may use a different leave year, e.g. January to December, provided this is used consistently).

With regard to public holidays, part-time workers are entitled to the public holiday, a day's leave, or a normal day's pay, if they work for the employer for at least 40 hours in the five week ending on the day before the public holiday if it is a normal working day. If the public holiday falls on a day a part-time worker is NOT normally expected to work, the rate will be calculated at one-fifty of the normal weekly rate. Where the pay varies, an average day's pay can be worked out by adding he number of hours worked over the previous 13 weeks and dividing by the number of days worked.

Booklet 'infomation for part-time workers' available free of charge from Community Information Service at Action Inishowen.