Alan Haugh BL writes:

The Government, at its meeting on 8 July 2014, formally approved the publication of the Workplace Relations Bill 2014. The Bill has been in preparation by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation since 2012 and is the culmination of a wide-ranging programme of reform of the State’s employment rights and industrial relations institutions undertaken by Minister Bruton on taking office in 2011.

The Department engaged in widespread public consultation with interested parties on two occasions before the heads of bill were drawn up. Many of the suggestions made to the Minister in the course of the consultations are reflected in the Bill as published. The Minister also engaged with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in July 2012 prior to drawing up the heads.

When enacted, the Bill will streamline the existing framework for the resolution of employment rights and industrial relations complaints and disputes. The Bill sets out the statutory basis for the amalgamation of the functions currently fulfilled by the Rights Commissioner Service, the Equality Tribunal, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (at first instance), NERA and the Labour Relations Commission into a single new body to be known as the Workplace Relations Commission. Thereafter, the Labour Relations Commission and the Employment Appeals Tribunal will be dissolved. The functions of the Director of the Equality Tribunal under the Employment Equality, Equality Status and Pensions Acts will be transferred to the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission.

The Bill places considerable emphasis on the early resolution of disputes as close to the workplace as possible and without the need for the parties to have recourse to formal adjudication where practicable. To this end, the Bill provides for both early resolution and mediation procedures the outcomes of which may result in legally binding and enforceable agreements.

Where a dispute or complaint cannot be resolved by either of these mechanisms, or where the parties’ preference is for a formal hearing, the matter will be referred for adjudication before a single adjudication officer sitting in private. The decision of an adjudication officer can be appealed by either party to the Labour Court. A decision of the Labour Court (under employment rights or equality legislation) may be appealed on a point of law only to the High Court.

The Labour Court will be expanded to deal with the increase in its jurisdiction. An extra division will be added to the Court and an additional Deputy Chairman will be appointed also to ensure that the four divisions can operate to full capacity. In future the Chairman of the Court and the Deputy Chairmen will be appointed by the Minister following an open competition conducted by the Public Appointments Service.

Likewise, there will be a panel of external adjudicators appointed by the Minister following a similar open and public competition. The panel will supplement a cohort of civil servants appointed as full-time adjudication officers (in like manner to the current Equality Officers).

Another notable feature of the Bill is the procedural standardisations it introduces across the full spectrum of employment rights legislation.

The grounds for late submission of complaint beyond the limitation period will be ‘reasonable cause’ in all cases, the maximum period for such an extended submission period will be limited to 6 months under all employment Acts (it is currently up to 12 months under certain Acts). The period within which an appeal may be brought to Labour Court will also be standardised. These procedural changes (coupled with the institutional streamlining) will make for easier access to the system, at both first instance and at appeal stages, all users of the system.

Currently the NERA inspectorate operates on the basis of a range of different statutory powers that are set out in several individual pieces of legislation, the oldest of which dates back to the Industrial Relations Act 1946.

The Bill provides for one consolidated and modern statement of the powers of the inspectorate of the Workplace Relations Commission. It also introduces two new compliance measures: the Compliance Notice and the Fixed-Payment Notice. These new devices are intended to be effective means of securing employer’s compliance with employment legislation without the need to resort to prosecution. However, an employer’s failure to comply with either form of notice (in the case of a notice which hasn’t been successfully appealed) will be an offence prosecutable by the Commission in the District Court.

Finally, of note is the enhanced process the Bill introduces for the enforcement of the award of an adjudication officer or of the Labour Court. Currently, where an employer fails to fulfill an award of statutory body under employment legislation, the claimant is generally required to commence an often protracted process through the Circuit Court. The new arrangements provide for a much more straightforward enforcement process through the District Court. This process will be closely linked to the established jurisdiction of the District Court under the Enforcement of Court Orders Acts.

Significant reforms to the employment rights dispute system have been achieved to date by the Department on an administrative basis. For example, the following measures which have already been put in place in anticipation of the enactment of the Workplace Relations Bill 2014:

- the Equality Tribunal has been transferred from the Department of Justice and Equality to the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation;

- the Department has established a Single Contact Portal (the Workplace Relations Customer Service);

- a single Workplace Relations Complaint Form and an e-complaint facility have been put in place;

- a single Workplace Relations website (www.workplacerelations.ie)  has been designed and launched to replace the separate websites of the individual statutory bodies;

- the new website hosts a single database of adjudication and appeals decisions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Equality Tribunal and the Labour Court;

- the Early Resolution Service has been piloted and reviewed.

It is anticipated the Bill will be progressed through the Dáil and Seanad in the autumn parliamentary session with a view to enactment before the end of 2014.