Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, announced on the 1st of July 2011, a plan for the major restructuring of the employment law disputes fora in Ireland. It was widely recognised that the State’s mechanisms for resolution of employment disputes has been too disjointed and not user friendly for both employers and employees alike.
Single-Complaint Form for All Complaints
The first step in this process is the amalgamation of the complaint forms from the Labour Relations Commission, Equality Tribunal, National Employment Rights Authority, Employment Appeals Tribunal and the Labour Court into one, single complaint form. Until now, there has been a need to choose from numerous complaint forms (30 existing forms to accommodate over 80 different types of complaints) when seeking to take an applicable claim to one of our existing employment dispute resolution fora. However, from the 30th of December 2011, all complaints have been formulated onto one single complaint form which may be completed by the employee and submitted accordinglyto the Workplace Relations Customer Service Section of the Dept. of Jobs, Enterprise and innovation in Carlow. This form is available on The National Employment Rights Authority’s (NERA) website.
Workplace Relations Customer Services
The new service section, the Workplace Relations Customer Services section of the Department, will be responsible for information provision relating to employment obligations, the processing of first instance complaints referrals and updating users on the status of complaints in process.
Labour Court
One key element of the single complaint form is that only specific legislative elements of Industrial Relations disputes will be processed through the “single entry” complaint form. In the context of the Labour Court, only complaints made under section 32 of the Industrial Relations Act 1946 and Section 10, 20(1) and 20(2) of the Industrial Relations Act 1969, will be dealt with through the single point of entry form. All other complaints for the Labour Court will be addressed using the associated forms on the Courts website.
Two-Tiered Tribunal Approach
Since the original reform announcement in July 2011 by Minister Bruton, a consultation period was undertaken with the appropriate stakeholders, this period ended on the 16th of September 2011. The overall consensus was that there was a need for simplification of the current resolution processes. Peninsula Business Services submitted its own submission on behalf of our clients and a copy may be forwarded to any client if they wish to review its contents. The ultimate outcome of the reform process is to have a two-tiered approach; a first instance body which hears all claims and then an appellate body to hear all appeals from the first instance body’s recommendations. This, this will result in the merger of the existing five institutions, namely the Rights Commissioner, the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Equality Tribunal and NERA.
Early resolution
The Department is currently reviewing the implementation of a “Pilot Early Resolution Service” which is the next step in the development of the reform agenda. In keeping with the framework and the overall aim of encouragement of early resolution of disputes, the Minister has confirmed that there is a need for greater use of on-line resources and technology to speed up the administrative process. There has yet to be confirmation as to what point the State’s resolution bodies are to interject in workplace disputes, be it post-employment relationship or in advance of the end of the employment relationship. However, it is quite clear that a primary objective of the reform process is to seek a resolution to employment disputes before they make it to a formal hearing at which stage any hope of retracting the employment relationship of trust and confidence will have all but evaporated,.
Early resolution
The reform process will take place on a phased basis, with the general schedule as follows:
Phase 1: End Dec 2011
- Single point of entry form
- Single information resource
Phase 2: End June 2012
- Early resolution service
- Online interactive single claim form
- Integrated website
Phase 3: End Dec 2013
- Legislation associated with reform
- New processes fully completed
- Single case management system fully operational.
Legislation
A very important element of the reform process is the introduction of legislation to bring about the changes to the current system and to ensure that any reform will be compliant with statute. This is by no means an easy task and may mean the amendment to the current 30 pieces of legislation and a transfer of functions from the Employment Appeals Tribunal to the Minister. The Department will be consulting with the Attorney General’s office through the process.
Conclusion
The reforms will ensure a much more integrated approach to resolving claims and will assist the State, practitioners, employees and employers alike in the resolution of disputes. It is important for employers to be aware of these important developments. While it is not desirable to end up using the services, if you do find yourself on the wrong end of a claim from an employee, it is appropriate to ensure that you are aware that the process is about to become a little easier, if fully implemented. It remains to be seen as to how exactly the changes will occur in full and what the exact look of a new employment law rights service will look. It is, however, encouraging to see the Government acting in a manner that is attempting to keep costs down for employers who do have to use the services of the State.
Employers should seek advice from Peninsula Business Services should there be any queries regarding the proposed changes. Please phone the 24 Hour Advice Service on 01 8555050 and one of our experienced advisors will be happy to assist.
