I move amendment No. 13:
In page 20, subsection (2), line 21, to delete "within five weeks of the decision" and substitute "as soon as may be after the receipt by it of the notice".
This amendment arises because there may be difficulty for the tribunal in meeting the deadline envisaged in all circumstances. In this section a party to a dispute may appeal to the tribunal from a decision of the rights commissioner. The appeal must be initiated within four weeks of the decision to which it relates. The tribunal is then required to notify the other party concerned within five weeks of the decision, that is, within one week of the expiry of the last day for lodging the appeal.
The involvement of the tribunal in notifying the other party concerned is a practice associated with labour legislation which, it appears, may have developed because of disputes as to whether the party lodging the appeal furnished a copy of the appeal to the other party concerned. This role for the tribunal also exists under other labour legislation. In order to ease the deadline requirements for the tribunal to notify the other party concerned of an appeal, the rigid deadline of five weeks from the decision is removed by this amendment.
The formula adopted is that which applies under section 8 of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1993, where a similar obligation arises for the tribunal. The amendment is consistent with appropriate expeditious treatment of the notice of appeal, but it is flexible enough to enable the tribunal to cope with notices received at the last minute.