Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 259

Loss of benefit due to employer's default

Section 259 provides a remedy for employees (and others) who lose social welfare benefits because their employer failed to pay or properly handle PRSI employment contributions, and sets out how the State can recover related costs.

• An employee who loses benefit due to an employer's failure to pay or properly manage PRSI contributions can sue the employer for the value of the lost benefit as a simple contract debt
• If the employee does not take action, the Minister may step in and recover the equivalent amount on the employee's behalf
• Where regulations have treated unpaid or late contributions as if properly paid — allowing benefit to be paid that would otherwise have been lost — the employer owes the Social Insurance Fund the amount of that benefit
• Any social welfare assistance paid to the employee during the period of lost benefit is excluded when calculating the loss, and the Minister can recover that assistance either from the employee (if they have already recovered the full lost benefit) or from the defaulting employer