Reckonable and non-reckonable service

All redundancies notified after 10 April 2005 take account of absences from work only over the last 3 years of service. Any absences outside of the three-year period ending on the date of termination of employment are disregarded. When reckoning or calculating the actual length of your service for redundancy payment purposes, the following periods over the last 3 years of service only should be taken into account, (the absences listed here are called reckonable absences):

The period you were actually in work
Any period of absence from work due to holidays
Any period of absence from work due to illness (see below for non-reckonable periods of illness)
Any period where you were absent from work by agreement with your employer (typically career break)
Any period of basic and additional maternity leave allowed under the legislation
Any period of basic adoptive/parental/carer’s leave
Any period of lock-out from your employment
Any period where the continuity of your employment is preserved under the Unfair Dismissals Acts.
However, in making the calculation of the length of your service, the following periods over the last 3 years will not be taken into account as service, (these are called non-reckonable absences):

Any period over 52 consecutive weeks where you were off work due to an injury at work
Any period over 26 consecutive weeks where you were off work due to illness
Any period on strike
Any period of lay off from work.