Once a complaint submitted to any of the Employment Rights bodies listed has been either adjudicated upon or withdrawn/settled, the body in question has no further role in the matter. The complaints submitted are often complex and range across a number of employment-related areas. The bodies do not collect data on the findings that are made in favour of employees or employers.
In the event that an award made by a body remains outstanding the person(s) affected may seek the Minister's assistance in having this enforced. In such instances, the enforcement function is carried out on behalf of the Minister by the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA). NERA received 79 award referrals in 2011 and 75 in 2012 (see Table 1 below).
|
CASES
|
2011
|
2012
|
|
Cases on hand start of year
|
54
|
89
|
|
New Cases Received
|
79
|
75
|
|
Cases Closed
|
44
|
59
|
|
Cases on hand end of year
|
89
|
105
|
The value of the arrears paid to employees as a result of civil enforcement for both 2011 and 2012 respectively is as follows;
|
YEAR
|
Arrears Paid to employees as a result of civil enforcement by NERA
|
|
2011
|
€84,796.00
|
|
2012
|
€50,557.00
|
A "fit for purpose" workplace relations system must be supported by proportionate, effective and efficient compliance and enforcement measures. It is my view that the current system of enforcement of employment rights awards is cumbersome, expensive and, accordingly, not "fit for purpose". For this reason, I am proposing to make provision in the Workplace Relations Bill for a range of enhanced compliance measures, including the use of Compliance Notices, Fixed Charge Notices and a new mechanism for enforcing awards of the WRC Adjudicators and Labour Court Determinations. I am confident that the introduction of these measures will provide for more proportionate, efficient and effective enforcement of employment law.
