Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

The Employment Appeals Tribunal is an independent body bound to act judicially and was set up to provide a speedy, fair, inexpensive and informal means for individuals to seek remedies for alleged infringements of their statutory rights. Where compensation is awarded by an Employment Appeals Tribunal, the award is subject to a maximum of 104 weeks remuneration. Remuneration includes basic pay, allowances, bonuses, benefit-in-kind and employers' contribution to pension and health insurance schemes where applicable. The tribunal, in setting the award, must consider actual and prospective loss. The tribunal can reduce the level of an award due to the employees' contribution to the dismissal, the employees' failure to mitigate the loss or the employees' ability to mitigate the loss by securing alternative employment. The calculation of awards is usually based on net remuneration.

Between 1977 and 1993, if an employee received an award as a result of an Employment Appeals Tribunal process, the amount of any social welfare payments received were deducted from this award. The Unfair Dismissals (Amendment) Act 1993 changed this provision to permit the tribunal to disregard social welfare benefits and tax rebates received by the claimant in assessing compensation levels. With regard to the possibility of recouping costs from employers where they have been found to have breached the statutory rights of their employees, any change in current provision would be a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, to consider in the first instance.

See this speech in context