asked the Minister for Labour the number of appeals referred by the Employment Appeals Tribunal to him under Section 40 (a) of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 in relation to short-time disputes, for reference to the High Court, indicating, (a) the date of reference by the tribunal to him, (b) the date of reference by him to the High Court, (c) in each case (i) the date of termination or alleged termination of employment, (ii) the date of appeal, (iii) the date of the hearing by the tribunal, and (d) the approximate number of other appeals affected by, or likely to be affected by, the reference to him.
Written Answers. - Employment Appeals Tribunal.
260.
Section 40 (1) of the 1967 Act as substituted by Section 9 of the 1971 Act, provides that the Minister may at the request of the tribunal refer a question for the decision of the High Court.
Seven appeals in relation to "short-time" disputes have been the subject-matter of requests by the tribunal to the Minister under that section. Particulars requested are as follows:
|
Date of request by Tribunal to Minister |
Date of termination or alleged termination of employment |
Date of Appeal |
Date of hearing by Tribunal |
|
6 Dec '71 |
May '71 |
13 Sept '71 |
25 Feb '74 |
|
12 Aug '77 |
2 April '76 |
31 March '76 |
17 Sept '76 |
|
12 Aug '77 |
12 Nov '75 |
5 May '76 |
17 Sept '76 |
|
12 Aug '77 |
5 March '76 |
29 March '76 |
17 Sept '76 |
|
12 Aug '77 |
4 May '76 |
22 May '76 |
9 Dec '76 |
|
12 Aug '77 |
31 March '76 |
23 April '76 |
26 Nov '76 |
|
12 Aug '77 |
6 Aug '76 |
17 Sept '76 |
16 March '77 |
In the first case referred to, the Minister accepted counsel's opinion obtained by the Chief State Solicitor in effect advising against reference of the case to the High Court. In the other six cases referred to council's opinion was sought some time ago and is awaited.
The approximate number of other appeals affected or likely to be affected by the request for reference is four.
The Redundancy Payments Bill 1979, recently circulated to Deputies, contains a provision designed to facilitate the determination by the tribunal of appeals involving short-time working.
261.
asked the Minister for Labour if he is aware that the time for making appeals to the Employment Appeals Tribunal under the Unfair Dismissals Act is six months, and that the tribunal has no power to extend this short time for any reason; that the provision militates, in particular, against juvenile workers, who may be, and have been dismissed unfairly without their knowledge; and if he will propose an immediate extension of the powers of the tribunal to give that body some discretion in the matter of an extended time limit as is the practice in the redundancy legislation.
Section 8 (2) of the Unfair Dismissals Act, 1977, provides that a claim for redress under the Act shall be made to a rights commissioner or the Employment Appeals Tribunal within six months of the date of dismissal.
The six months period was decided upon so as to give time to claim to a dismissed employee who was not immediately aware of his rights under the Act and so as to ensure that the case would be dealt with when the relevant facts were reasonably fresh in all minds. Six months should also allow sufficient time to enable the voluntary grievance procedures within a firm (when such were in operation) to be used before an employee would avail of the Act.
One of the forms of redress under the Unfair Dismissals Act is reinstatement. If this is to be effected successfully, it is essential that the shortest possible time should elapse between dismissal and reinstatement otherwise the job could be filled by another person who in turn might have a claim under the Act.