In July 2011 Alan Price, Director of Operations, Peninsula Ireland, attended an excellent conference in UCD on proposals to reform the Irish employment dispute resolution system. Minister Richard Bruton, who opened the conference, really set his stall out to completely reform the current system. Alan was quite heavily involved in a round table debate with some of Ireland’s leading authorities on the subject, including the Chairman of the LRC and NERA, Mr Kieran Mulvey, and the Chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Kevin Duffy. Thus, it is extremely encouraging to see that significant steps have been taken since that day and this is particularly evident when you review the recent “Blueprint to Deliver a World-Class Workplace Relations Service” as prepared by Minister Bruton’s Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. In this article, we outline some of the key changes that have been proposed to date, what changes are in the pipeline and what you, as employers, can expect going forward.
New Two-Tiered Dispute Resolution System
Quite possibly the most important aspect of the reform process is the introduction of a two-tiered dispute system which will mean that one body will hear and decide upon all claims initially and, if that decision is appealed, any appeal will then be heard by a separate appeals body. In Minister Bruton’s “Blueprint” it has been announced that legislation will be enacted by Autumn 2012 which will effectively merge the existing five dispute institutions, namely the Rights Commissioner, the Labour Court, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Equality Tribunal and NERA and transfer their dispute functions to the newly formed two-tier structure.
Time Limit for Taking Claims
It has been announced that the time limits within which employees may take a claim will be streamlined. As it stands, employment legislation outlines different time limits for different claims and differing criteria for extending that deadline. Thankfully, the new system will providea universal 6 month time limit for all such claims and this time limit may only be extended to 12 months in “exceptional circumstances”.
Early Resolution of Employment Disputes
A major aspect of the “Blueprint” is the onus being put on the early resolution of an employee complaint. Employees will be encouraged to seek to resolve complaints directly with their employer firstly and, where possible, to notify their employers before they lodge a complaint that they intend on doing so. In addition, the new system will then seek to resolve complaints at the earliest possible interval before they proceed to a formal hearing. This may occur through mediation for example and agreements arrived during this process will be binding on both. In addition, the new system will seek to weed out claims that are out of time or incorrectly completed so as to avoid employers, employees and deciding officers having to attend a dispute hearing unnecessarily.
Formal Dispute Hearings and Decisions
If a dispute proceeds to a formal hearing then a new detailed Operations Manual will be in place to outline how the hearing is to be conducted. This will assist those engaging in the process to identify how the matter is to proceed and what can be expected.
Once the hearing has resolved and a decision is being issued, then the decision must clearly set out the reasons as to why that decision was reached and the legal basis for the decision. This is important as the current system has been roundly criticised for reaching vastly different conclusions in extremely similar factual scenarios and this requirement will now allow for a greater level of consistency. Interestingly, the “Blueprint” has committed itself to the goal of issuing a decision to any case heard within 28 days of the hearing date. This is an extremely ambitious goal given that the current system can have a wait of up to 6 months. In addition, clearly specifying a goal of 90% allows observers and critics to easily assess the success of the reform process and it isn’t often that a Government Department will tie itself down to such a specific figure. I find this to be extremely encouraging and it is an excellent statement of intent.
A New Disciplinary Code of Practice
An important aspect of the “Blueprint” is the commitment that new Codes of Practice will be drawn to aid employer and employee alike but importantly future Codes of Practice on Disciplinary hearings will take into consideration the small owner-managed business. This is important because as it stands employers in small businesses are being taken to task at dispute hearings on the basis that their disciplinary procedures are flawed whereas the inherent problem is that such a small business cannot possibly comply with the requirements of the existing Code of Practice.
Conclusion
The “Blueprint to Deliver a World-Class Workplace Relations Service” is very encouraging. The current dispute resolution system in Ireland has been highly criticised by employers, employees and relevant professionals for some time now. On reviewing the ‘blueprint’ it would seem a lot of the deficiencies have been identified and the proposed remedies seem to be very much on the money. As with many of these things, only time will tell just how effective these changes will be but for now, the proposals certainly appear promising.
Should you have any queries about the ‘Blueprint to Deliver a World-Class Workplace Relations Service’, please do not hesitate to contact our 24 Hour Advice Line on 01 855 5050 and one of our advisors will be happy to assist.
