Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 13 seeks to include a prohibition on blacklisting of workers in the anti-victimisation provisions in section 19 if the workers are covered by an SEO. The purpose of amendment No. 14 is to add trade union membership or activity to the activities in respect of which an employer may not penalise a worker to whom an SEO applies.

A number of protections have been in place for some time for workers who consider that they have been subject to victimisation in the workplace. Any worker who find themselves subject to victimisation already has the opportunity to take a case under the Industrial Relations Acts. The 2004 code of practice on victimisation provides that where there is a dispute in an employment where collective bargaining fails to take place and where negotiating agreements are not in place, no person should be victimised or suffer any disadvantage as a consequence of their legitimate actions or affiliations arising from that dispute. Procedure for addressing complaints of victimisation is set out in the Industrial Relations (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2004 and these protections will be enhanced in the context of provisions in Part 3 of this Bill relating to the Government's commitment on collective bargaining. Accordingly, I cannot accept amendments Nos. 13 and 14.

The purpose of amendment No. 15 is to change the reference to Minister in section 19(1)(b) of the Bill to the Workplace Relations Commission. This is required following the enactment of the Workplace Relations Commission Act 2015, which provides that complaints will in future be made to the commission rather than to the Minister.

The purpose of amendment No. 16 is to specify that proceedings relating to a complaint of victimisation in this section are now provided under the enforcement provision contained in Part 4 of the Workplace Relations Act 2015.

I want to flag that I will seek to further amend amendment No. 17. We want to correct an incorrect reference there to the Workplace Relations Act and to propose a new subsection and I will address this on Report Stage.

The purpose of amendment No. 18 is to include harassment as part of the list of victimisation measures to be covered by the term "penalisation". Section 19(4) of the Bill provides an non-exhaustive list of acts or omissions by an employer that would constitute penalisation for the purpose of this Bill, the main concern being that they affect a worker to his or her detriment with regard to any terms or conditions of his or her employment. In this context, harassment would clearly come within the scope of this overarching definition. That being the case, I do not consider it necessary to include a specific reference to it in the Bill. Accordingly, I cannot accept amendment No. 18.