Employment Appeals Tribunal Report for 2000

The Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Mr. Tom Kitt, T.D. has today (Monday 24th September 2001) announced the publication of the Annual Report of the Employment Appeals Tribunal for the year 2000.

The Tribunal was established under the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967 for the purpose of resolving disputes concerning employees' entitlements to statutory redundancy payments. The Tribunal's remit was subsequently extended to include responsibility for the settlement of disputes under various other Acts.

In launching the Report, Minister Kitt said, "I am happy to state that the success the Tribunal has had over the past number of years in processing and hearing cases continues. The Tribunal provides an invaluable service both to employers and employees in settling disputes in a fair and transparent manner. The public, and the social partners in particular, can be assured that the Tribunal will continue to provide a first-class service to the resolution of disputes that come before it."

As was the case in previous years, much of the Tribunal's workload in 2000 was taken up with hearing cases under the Unfair Dismissals, Redundancy and Minimum Notice Legislation.

The Minister continued "I am pleased to report that the Tribunal continues to be an effective and expeditious forum for employees and employers to litigate disputes. In this way the Tribunal is playing its part in making an effective contribution towards a stable industrial relations environment.

As a forum for the resolution of employment disputes the Tribunal is conscious of the fact that much of our more recent Employee Rights Legislation has had its origins in Europe. Consequently, the Tribunal recognises the benefits of liasing with Labour Courts and Tribunals across Europe. Through the European Association of Labour Court Judges (E.A.L.C.J.) the Tribunal has been able to do this for the year 2000."

The main points of the report are as follows:

• ? In the past year a total of 3,199 claims and appeals were disposed of, and increase of 504 on 1999.
• ? There was approximately an 11.5% increase in the total number of cases referred to the Tribunal in 2000 compared to 1999. This is due mainly to an increase in the number of Minimum Notice cases referred to it.
• ? While much of the Tribunal's workload for 2000 centred on hearing Unfair Dismissal, Minimum Notice and Redundancy Payment cases, there were also quite a number of appeals to the Tribunal under the Protection of Employees (Employer's Insolvency) Acts, as a large number of employees from one particular company brought cases.
• ? With regard to the Organisation of Working Time Act, the trend apparent in last year's Report concerning holiday entitlement claims continued, with the number of claims referred totalling 170, an increase of 35 on the 1999 figure. The number of claims under this Act, now being referred to the tribunal in conjunction with other claims, justifies the decision of the Legislature to give the Tribunal jurisdiction in relation to holiday complaints.
• ? The Tribunal remains well prepared to meet the ever-increasing demands being made on it to provide an effective and expeditious forum for the resolution of employment disputes.

? The changes made to practice and procedure and the issuing of the Guidelines for Practitioners have proven to be of benefit to the users of the Tribunal and have also enabled the Tribunal itself to be more efficient in the discharge of its functions. The success achieved over the past number of years in reducing waiting periods for cases to get a hearing continued. The average waiting period for a case to come for hearing before the Tribunal in 2000 was about 8 weeks in Dublin and 12 weeks in the Provincial areas.