Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)

I am aware we are discussing this legislation in the context of the Minister's proposals on the workplace relations legislation generally. I take comfort from the fact that he regards the provision in amendment No. 25 in my name that, before a complaint is presented to a rights commissioner, the employer should be notified of the contravention in writing and given a period of 14 days to respond and, if possible, rectify the issue, as a good one. I hope he will take it on board in his workplace relations legislation. Accordingly, I will not be pressing that amendment.

The Minister spoke much about discretion. I might be wrong, but as I understand it, under the 1946 Act, if someone wanted, the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, could take on his or her case. A significant barrier has been put in place between an aggrieved employee and the NERA, as there are all sorts of conditions set down before the NERA will condescend to represent someone. To me, this is reducing people's rights.

There is also a peculiar provision in section 18 concerning a situation where someone is entitled to be informed about what rights he or she has. It provides that where someone is unhappy and does not receive full information about his or her rights from his or her employer, he or she can go to the NERA which can issue a notice to the employer to supply the information. This is automatic access to the NERA when someone is not receiving information on his or her rights. When someone is not getting his or her rights, as opposed to information on them, he or she has to go to the rights commissioner, the Labour Court and the Circuit Court.

When this legislation takes effect and if this provision remains unchanged by the workplace relations legislation, access to the NERA will be practically non-existent. I am concerned about some of the wording used. For example, it will only take effect when a complaint has not been made which the NERA is meant to know about and it will only step in when it is regarded as unreasonable to expect a person to represent himself or herself. The tone of this form of drafting and the way it could be interpreted concerns me.

While I am not going to push the amendments, it is a matter we will have to discuss in more detail in the context of the workplace relations legislation. Everyone accepts employees are in a worse situation than they were in before the High Court decision. I hope these provisions will not leave them in a worse position where they do not have the maximum protection. I am seriously concerned about the wording of the new section 45E in the 1946 Act.

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