Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Employment Rights

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 April 2012

Thursday, 26 April 2012

Ceisteanna (29)

Brian Stanley

Ceist:

26 Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will outline changes that he would like to see to ensure compliance with the judgements of any new employment rights and industrial relations bodies. [20905/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I have commenced a reform process to deliver world-class workplace relations service. My aim is to provide a simple, independent, effective, impartial, cost effective and workable means of redress and enforcement, within a reasonable period of time. Enforcing the awards of the Workplace Relations Bodies will be an important element of this reform.

It is my intention to develop a new and more effective method of enforcing awards of the bodies. I propose to deal with this matter in the Workplace Relations Bill which I aim to have enacted in the autumn of this year.

The new Workplace Relations Commission and the Labour Court will deal with both industrial relations and employment rights. It is important to differentiate between recommendations delivered as part of the voluntarist industrial relations systems and awards made under employment rights legislation.

The system of industrial relations in Ireland is essentially voluntarist in nature. The State provides a framework and institutions through which good industrial relations can prosper. It is expected that the parties to a dispute come to the process in good faith and consequently are prepared to give serious consideration to the recommendations made. It should be noted however, that either party to a dispute may reject such recommendations. Accordingly I have no plans to make any changes to alter this voluntarist principle.

The mechanism for enforcing awards made under employment rights legislation by the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Rights Commissioners or the Labour Court is prescribed in the relevant legislation under which the award was made. Generally, this involves an application by, or on behalf of, the employee to the Circuit Court or District Court. The Minister may also, on the request of the employee, take enforcement proceedings on the latter's behalf.

I am aware from the cases in respect of which such requests were made to the Minister during the last twelve months and from the consultation process I undertook last autumn that there is increased concern regarding the number of employers who are failing or refusing to comply with awards of the bodies.

When I came into office last year I identified the need to reform the entire Workplace Relations structures and processes including the enforcement mechanisms. The problems had been well documented and the issues had been extensively reviewed over many years. The system was so complex that even practitioners had difficulty understanding and accessing it. There were, and in some cases still are, long delays scheduling hearings and further delays in issuing decisions. I did not believe that this was an acceptable level of service. I have commenced a major process of reform.

Work has commenced on the drafting of a Workplace Relations Bill to give effect to the new two-tier structure. I intend to have this legislation enacted by autumn this year.

Substantial progress has already been made and a number of important priority actions that I identified last July have been successfully delivered within the target timescale. These include:

The establishment of a single contact portal called "Workplace Relations Customer Services" which provides a single point of entry into the system for workplace relations complaints and information.

Complaints are now acknowledged and the employer is notified within, on average, five working days of the complaint being lodged which increases the likelihood of employers and employees resolving issues sooner and has substantially reduced the backlog for certain hearings. This process was taking up to eight months in some cases prior to the reform.

A Single Complaint Form that deals with over 100 first instance complaints and an interim website, workplacerelations.ie, were launched on the 4th of January this year.

Delivery of a pilot Early Resolution Service has commenced. This service, which will enter a pilot phase in early May this year, will assist parties to a dispute to resolve the issue themselves with the assistance of a Case Resolution Officer.

I sought the views of all interested parties on how the system can be improved as part of the consultation last autumn and more recently in the Blueprint I published on April 5th this year. This document sets out, in considerable detail, how reform of the workplace relations structures and processes will be achieved. It also provides a further opportunity for interested parties to contribute comments and feedback on the future design of the State's workplace relations structures.

In that regard views have been sought on how awards of the Workplace Relations bodies can better be enforced. I am open to positive suggestions and advice in relation to how this can be achieved.

Barr
Roinn