Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the publication of this Bill and acknowledge the good work the Minister has done in reforming legislation around the workplace and the general work of Government in ensuring that over the past year or two years, 70,000 more people are at work and on whom this legislation will directly impact and, hopefully, benefit.

The Bill is to streamline the grievance process by merging the five existing State bodies into two, namely, the workplace relations commission and an expanded Labour Court. As has been pointed out, the current system is complex, confusing, can often be expensive and, in many cases, deeply frustrating, in particular where awards have been determined but not adequately enforced. An early resolution process should be determined by definite time targets, which I would like to see reinforced in the Bill, unless in exceptional circumstances where more flexibility could be introduced.

The establishment of a director general accountable to Oireachtas committees is a welcome development but I would go further. I submit that officer, or another officer, be directed to be a liaison officer for Members of the Oireachtas. This practice would be welcome in respect of all public bodies and State agencies. In areas where there would be quite a few inquiries from Oireachtas Members, maybe there could be a dedicated officer. However, in this particular case, an officer could deal with specific inquiries from the Houses of the Oireachtas.

I note board members are not to be paid, which is commonplace now. However, when dealing with workers' rights, it is worth noting that board members will not be paid. Could there could be a bit more flexibility in some cases? Could the Minister's hands not be overly tied in this regard?

I am concerned the adjudicator is not required to hold any legal qualifications. Perhaps the Minister might point out what qualifications or experience should be set as a minimum standard for the adjudicator.

As I pointed out, the current problems with the existing legislation is that it is overly complex, unwieldy and very difficult. This new legislation might be an opportunity to compile and publish an online case book for employment cases similar to recent publications from the Office of the Ombudsman. Compensation and award decisions and determinations should also be published online to increase transparency and the public profile of these two offices.

For parties who engage in the process, there should be an online progress report or an access portal so they could see how their cases were progressing through the system. It is very difficult for parties to know exactly where they stand, whether in the commission or the Labour Court. If something like this could be introduced, it would be very welcome.

Currently, in regard to enforcement, only 11% of cases taken by NERA are successful in getting the awards for employees. That is a very poor record of recovering awards. We have an opportunity in this legislation to make it easier for successful parties to the process to re-engage with the court service and engage with the sheriff's office etc., to recover awards. On that note, I very much welcome the introduction of compliance notices and fixed charge penalty notices to be levied against parties who are in breach of employment legislation. The easier it is and the quicker it is to get resolutions and get awards paid, the better.

In regard to an employee who is not a member of a trade union or an employee who does not have the resources and would be discouraged by his or her circumstances from accessing the new redress procedures in this legislation, do we have an opportunity to make this legislation more user-friendly, such as providing an information or an advocacy office which an employee could access as a first port of call, and to engage in an information campaign so that the employee would be aware of his or her rights and the redress available?

Employees and employers should not be concerned about this legislation. If the rights of employees are adhered to, one usually has a more productive and a better workplace and better workplace relationships, which almost always benefits employee and employers. I am very pleased to welcome this legislation.

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