The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body that was established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The Commission’s name was specified under Section 10 of this Act.
I believe that the suggested renaming to include Equality Commission in the WRC title would risk confusion with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), mandated to promote human rights and equality in Ireland. The IHREC clearly refer the making of complaints under the Equal Status Acts to the Workplace Relations Commission and provide the appropriate links.
The WRC assumed the roles and functions previously carried out by the Labour Relations Commission (LRC), Rights Commissioner Service (RCS), Equality Tribunal (Eq T), the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) and the first instance (Complaints and Referrals) functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT), to provide a single point of access for complaints and disputes.
The WRC has a broad remit encompassing responsibility for information provision, workplace advice, mediation, conciliation, adjudication, inspection and enforcement in relation to employment rights, equality and equal status matters and industrial relations.
The WRC takes its role in relation to equality matters very seriously and has recently undergone a stakeholder engagement process with bodies in the equality sphere including the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).
On a practical level, the WRC has updated its website so as to clearly highlight the range of information available on Equal Status related issues. This online resource is reviewed, updated and amended as required.
In addition, the Information and Customer Service staff of the WRC can provide information and assistance to persons who may not have online access and the WRC also provides presentations and outreach services to a variety of representative bodies on the full range of its services.
I do not propose to amend the name of the Workplace Relations Commission and I am confident that the WRC is well placed to fulfil its statutory obligations under the Equal Status Acts.
