Every year the Employment Appeals Tribunal produces a report of its activity in preceding years.
The Tribunal has just published its report for 2012.
The top 6 categories of case referred to the Employment Appeals Tribunal in 2012 were:
1. Unfair dismissal 31%
2. Redundancy 22%
3. Minimum Notice & Terms of Employment 17%
4. Payment of Wages Act, 1991 14%
5. Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 7%
6. Terms of Employment (Information) Acts 5%.
Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2007
The average amount of compensation awarded by the Tribunal was €18,519.84. In addition to compensation the Tribunal ordered re-instatement in 4 cases and re-engagement in 10 cases.
Other Claims
In addition to the cases referred above there were 11 cases referred under the Maternity Protection Acts 1994 and 2004; 2 under the Parental Leave Acts 1998 and 2006; 72 cases under the European Communities (Protection of Employees on Transfer of Undertakings) Regulations 2003 (TUPE); and 28 cases under European Communities (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2000.
Representation at Cases
There is no requirement for representation in order to appear before the Tribunal.
In 2012 1917 employees had representation in the following way:
397 cases representation was by Trade Unions; 1,196 employees were represented by legal professionals; and 342 were represented by “other persons”.
In the same period employers had representation in 1,116 cases with 659 by legal representatives, 390 by other persons, and 67 by employers’ associations.
The highest level of representation was in unfair dismissal cases.
Appeals to Higher Courts
Some determinations can be appealed to the High Court on a point of law. In 2012 six such cases were appealed.
In unfair dismissal cases, determinations of the Tribunal can be appealed to the Circuit Court within 6 weeks of the date of determination. In 2012 approximately 128 cases were appealed to the Circuit Court.
Waiting Period
The growth in referral of cases to the Tribunal has led to the average waiting period increasing significantly over the last few years.
The average waiting period in Dublin in 2012 was 77 weeks and 82 weeks outside Dublin.
Proposed Changes
There are major changes proposed by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to set up a 2 tier Workplace Relations structure. There will be a new single body of first instance-the Workplace Relations Commission-and a separate appeals body, which will be effectively an expanded Labour Court.