asked the Minister for Labour the number of cases before the Labour Court for equal pay at (a) equality officer level, and (b) Labour Court level.
32.
Questions—Ceisteanna. Oral Answers. - Labour Court Equality Cases.
31.
asked the Minister for Labour the number of cases before the Labour Court under the Employment Equality Act as (a) equality officer level, and (b) Labour Court level.
33.
asked the Minister for Labour the average time taken to issue recommendations in each case at (a) equality officer level, and (b) Labour Court level.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take questions Nos. 31, 32 and 33 together.
The following information in response to the Deputy's questions has been obtained from the Labour Court who have the central enforcement role in equal pay and equal treatment cases under both the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974, and the Employment Equality Act, 1977. The position as at 14 November 1978 is as follows:
(a) Cases under the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974 before the equality officers were:
|
Number of cases in which submissions have not been received |
35 |
|
Number of cases in which parties have resumed direct negotiations |
5 |
|
Number being processed at present |
28 |
The number of cases under the same Act, before the Labour Court was six.
(b) There were no cases under the Employment Equality Act, 1977, and there was one case under the same Act before the Labour Court.
The redress procedures under the 1977 Act differ from those in the 1974 Act in that they provide initially for settlement at conciliation level: in this regard there were two such cases with the industrial relations officers of the Labour Court on that date.
The time taken to have such cases dealt with depends on the complexity of each case and how promptly or otherwise the parties involved respond to requests for relevant information and documentation.
I understand from the Labour Court that an equality officer would spend about ten days, in disposing of a relatively straightforward case, but more complex cases would take much longer.
The same factors apply to cases appealed to the Labour Court. Depending on the complexity of a particular case the court may require additional information or submissions from the parties concerned and possibly a resumed hearing in order to clarify points raised at previous hearings. Obviously the speed at which the parties respond to the court's requests for additional information has a bearing on the time taken for the court to issue their determinations.
The court have dealt with 13 recommendations since 1 January 1978 and the average time taken in these cases was five months.