Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 September 2015
310. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the disparity in the maximum compensatory awards allowable under the Equal Status Acts 2000 to 2012, the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2011 and the Workplace Relations Act 2015. [32806/15]
View answerThe Workplace Relations Act 2015, which was signed into law on 20th May, reforms the State’s existing employment rights and industrial relations structures. This legislation provides a statutory basis for a new structure which will see the existing five workplace relations bodies replaced by two. While a number of technical and operational provisions of the Act were commenced on 1st August, the majority of the provisions, including those related to the new structures, will be commenced on 1st October, 2015. The Workplace Relations Act 2015 will also result in the establishment of new structures for the resolution and adjudication of complaints and disputes across the entire corpus of employment rights and equality legislation. The aim of the Act is to create a modern, user-friendly, world-class employment workplace relations system that will provide significant benefits for its users and society as a whole. The focus will be on resolving the workplace disputes as quickly and inexpensively as possible.
The Workplace Relations Act 2015 does not provide for any amendments to the existing substantive provisions within the corpus of employment rights and equality legislation (including the Employment Equality Acts or the Equal Status Acts) which provide for the amounts of compensation or the types of redress that can be awarded under either of those enactments. The Act does not prescribe the levels of compensation that may be awarded by an Adjudication Officer under employment rights or equality legislation and following the establishment of the WRC, adjudicators will apply existing substantive law in this regard.
While responsibility for the Equality Tribunal was transferred from the Minister for Justice and Equality to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with effect from 1 January, 2013 as part of the ongoing reform of the State's employment rights and industrial relations structures, the Minister for Justice and Equality retains responsibility for equality policy. Therefore, any matters concerning the level of compensation prescribed in the equality legislation is a policy matter for the Minister for Justice and Equality.
