Results 12,621-12,640 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I thank the Deputy for his amendment. We are recruiting the new panel for the adjudication service through the Public Appointments Service. It will be a balanced panel with equal numbers of people appointed from legal, human resources and industrial relations streams. The PAS is undertaking a selection process with the external panel of adjudicators. The competition for inclusion on the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: That is why we are recruiting additional people. There was a large backlog, part of it because the procedure was not as streamlined as it ought to be but we are aiming to get the waiting times back on track. Already there has been a great improvement in the scheduling of cases. For rights commissioners that happens on demand. There are backlogs in certain areas, which the Deputy knows...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 22: In page 35, between lines 19 and 20, to insert the following:“(9) A reference in any enactment to a rights commissioner shall be construed as including a reference to an adjudication officer.”.This is an additional safeguard to ensure that the full range of functions is transferred seamlessly between rights commissioners and adjudication officers and...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 23: In page 36, to delete lines 5 and 6.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: Section 41 does not apply directly to employment equality and equal status cases. Instead, sections 80 to 82, inclusive, amend the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2000 and make them consistent with the provisions of section 41. There is no merit in requiring a separate hearing of equality cases from other employment matters which may be in dispute between an employer...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: The Equal Status Act 2000 will remain in place but will be subject to certain amendments through this Bill. We are not doing away with the Equal Status Act 2000 in any shape or form but we are having single hearings.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: The standard period in most of the existing employment enactments within which a complaint can be referred to one of the workforce relations bodies is six months, which can be extended to 12 months where either reasonable cause or exceptional circumstances are demonstrated, depending on the individual enactment. The Workplace Relations Bill seeks to standardise these time periods across the...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 29: In page 36, line 31, to delete “Adoptive Leave Act 1995” and substitute “Act of 1995”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 31: In page 37, line 4, to delete “Maternity Protection Act 1994” and substitute “Act of 1994”.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 36: In page 38, to delete lines 5 and 6 and substitute the following:“(10) The Commission shall publish on the internet in such form and in such manner as it considers appropriate every decision (other than information that would identify the parties in relation to whom the decision was made) of an adjudication officer under this section.”.At first instance,...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: We are providing that all hearings on appeal will be in public, but the initial hearing will be in private.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 37: In page 38, to delete lines 7 to 11 and substitute the following:“(11) A complainant may, in proceedings before an adjudication officer or the Labour Court in respect of a complaint presented, or dispute referred, by the complainant under this Part, be accompanied and represented by—(a) a trade union official within the meaning of section 11 of the Act...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 39: In page 39, between lines 15 and 16, to insert the following:“(2) Upon the hearing of an application under this section in relation to a decision of an adjudication officer requiring an employer to reinstate or re-engage an employee, the District Court may, instead of making an order directing the employer to carry out the decision in accordance with its terms,...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: Is that on the basis that the compensation level is not strong enough?

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I am considering further amendments to sections 43 to 45, inclusive, to provide that non-compliance with an order of the Workplace Relations Commission or the Labour Court regarding the enforcement of awards in employment rights cases would be an offence prosecutable summarily in the District Court. I am currently in discussions with the OPC on this matter and will revert to the committee on...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: It is consolidating a range of enactments and bringing in common procedures that will apply. Like any other restructuring process, it is a difficult Bill. Amendments come which provide greater clarity. It is the nature of this sort of Bill. We are also working to move this rapidly to deliver the consolidation within a timeline. We are trying to balance getting a strong agency up and...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 40: In page 39, lines 38 and 39, to delete “affirming, varying or setting aside that decision”.This amendment is required to clarify that the terms of the decision reached by the Labour Court under section 44 of the Bill on any specific appeal are provided for in the individual employment enactment concerned. These are detailed in Schedule 6.

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 41: In page 40, to delete lines 5 and 6 and substitute the following:“(3) Subject to subsection (4)*, a notice under subsection (2) shall be given to the Labour Court not later than 42 days from the date of the decision concerned. (4) The Labour Court may direct that a notice under subsection (2) may be given to it after the expiration of the period specified in...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: There are currently three bodies carrying out the adjudicative function at first incident level, which will comprise the WRC adjudication service, namely, the EAT, the Rights Commissioner Service and the Equality Tribunal. Under existing procedures, neither the EAT nor the rights commissioners have the power to refer a point of law to the High Court, whereas the director of the Equality...

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (6 Nov 2014)

Richard Bruton: I move amendment No. 43: In page 40, between lines 27 and 28, to insert the following:"(10) Proceedings under this section before the Labour Court shall be conducted in public.".Labour Court hearings dealing with the appeals of a workplace relations commission adjudicator in respect of employment rights in equality cases will be in public, thus ensuring compliance with the requirements of...