Changes afoot in how Irish employment disputes are to be dealt with
It is no exaggeration to say that employee rights have developed in a patchwork fashion over the last 60 years. During that time, new statutory enforcement bodies have been created on an ad hoc basis and the result is that different rights must be enforced in different forums.
However, all that is due to change as the Government has just approved new legislation to reform workplace relations bodies.
There are currently five organisations which deal with workplace disputes in Ireland:
• The Labour Relations Commission (LRC)
• The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA)
• The Equality Tribunal
• The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT)
• The Labour Court
The result of having five separate, independent bodies is a very confusing and frustrating system for employees, employers and professionals representing them.
Challenges include:
• A set of circumstances arising between a single employee and single employer can give rise to a number of claims, which must be processed through different bodies
• Lack of consistency between bodies
• Over legalistic service
The new system, which is expected to be in place by the end of 2014, will see the five bodies reduced to two bodies – the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) which will deal with all first instance complaints, and the Labour Court which will deal with appeals.
Once implemented the new system will result in a more straight-forward, quicker service for employees and employers. The changes will also result in significant savings for the Department of Jobs, estimated at €2m.
For further information on services provided by the new WRC visit www.workplacerelations.ie.
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