Minister Kelleher welcomes the publication of the Employment Appeals Tribunal Annual Report 2007

Waiting Time for hearings in Cork reduced from 65 weeks to 29 weeks

The Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr. Billy Kelleher TD today (Monday 21^st July 2008) welcomes the publication of the Employment Appeals Tribunal Annual Report 2007.

The Minister said: “The EAT is a valuable service to both employees and employers and is a key mechanism in the State’s dispute resolution process. I welcome the publication of this, the fortieth Annual Report of the Employment Appeals Tribunal.”

The Minister went on to note some of the key points from the Annual Report, including that adjudicating on unfair dismissals cases continues to represent the vast majority of work of the Tribunal, at about 95% in terms of time spent at hearings. There was a slight fall in the number of unfair dismissal cases heard by the Tribunal from 1,291 in 2006 to 1,127 in 2007.

Speaking about the average waiting periods for a case to be heard before the Tribunal, the Minister said “Because of concern regarding the waiting period for cases to be heard by the Tribunal, the Government, under the Social Partnership Agreement, “Towards 2016”, undertook to increase resources to the employment rights bodies. The assignment of these extra staff has led to a significant reduction in waiting times in most areas. For example, this time last year the average waiting period for Cork was 65 weeks. In June 2008 this was reduced to 29 weeks. The waiting period in 24 of 26 counties is down and therefore the number of cases on hand is also down. I will continue to support the Tribunal in targeting its resources in those areas with the longest waiting periods.”

Publishing the Annual Report, the Minister also recalled the 40th anniversary of the Tribunal, on 18 December 2007. “I was pleased to welcome members of the Tribunal past and present to a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Tribunal at Dublin Castle last December.”

In conclusion, the Minister expressed his thanks to the Employment Appeals Tribunal for their ongoing commitment to providing an accessible, fair and informal forum for the resolution of employment rights disputes.

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Notes for Editors:

The Employment Appeals Tribunal [EAT] is a quasi-judicial body and was established under Section 39 of the Redundancy Payments Act, 1967. [Up to 1977 it was known as the Redundancy Appeals Tribunal. In 1977, under Section 18 of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, the name of the Tribunal was changed to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.]

The EAT’s function is to adjudicate on disputes involving individual employment rights. It has jurisdiction under fourteen Acts of the Oireachtas and two Statutory Instruments to deal with individual employment rights disputes that arise either during the course of employment or on the termination of the employment relationship.

The Tribunal currently consists of a Chairman and 35 Vice-Chairmen and a panel of 80 other members, 40 nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and 40 by organisations representative of employers. The Tribunal acts in Divisions, each consisting of either the Chairman or a Vice-Chairman and two other members, one drawn from the employers’ side of the panel and one from the trade union side.

Further information is available on the Tribunal’s website www.eatribunal.ie