Employment rights are largely created by statute. The scope of such statutes extends to ‘workers’ who have valid contracts of employment with an employer.
The current legal situation is that non-EEA persons who do not have an entitlement to work in this jurisdiction, i.e. they do not hold a valid employment permit or a residency visa which allows for work in limited circumstances, must rely on the ordinary courts for contract enforcement matters. Section 2B of the Employment Permits Acts 2003-2014 provides for a common law remedy for situations whereby, legally speaking, there is no enforceable contract between the employer and the employee.
The WRC and the Labour Court are quasi-judicial bodies. They must act strictly within the statutory functions that have been prescribed to them by the Oireachtas. The jurisdiction in relation to employment rights relates to matters where there is a valid contract only. To extend this jurisdiction of such bodies without careful consideration could result in such bodies acting “in the administration of justice”, a function exclusively assigned to the ordinary courts.
