Results 19,261-19,280 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: As Senator David Norris said, a person may be accompanied and represented by a trade union official, an official of an employers' body, a practising barrister, a solicitor or any other person if the adjudication officer so permits. There are only limited circumstances where the adjudication officer would not so permit and the adjudicating officer cannot whimsically exclude a person who has...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: That is not what we are debating. Amendment No. 85 has nothing to do with mediation.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: We have dealt with that issue.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I seek to insert it, but I will come back to the Senator on Report Stage to clarify why we are taking that power.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: To some degree, the Senator's amendment reverses the position on the adjudication officer, where the Senator advocated allowing any person to be selected as a representative for a person.The Senator is seeking a detailed regulatory environment to be established for any such person and it is not entirely consistent. Our view is that it is not for the Labour Court to set out the professional...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: In proceedings in which it is alleged that a respondent is seeking to rely on personal data of the complainant which it failed to supply to the complainant on foot of a data access request by him or her, it is for an adjudication officer or the Labour Court to determine how best to conduct the proceedings, having regard to the overriding need to do justice and be seen to do justice to all...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: Our case is also perfectly reasonable. The Labour Court would judge this as part of the overall picture in which a case is being presented and take cognisance of how it is being produced at the last moment. In deference to the Senators, I will speak to people who are professionally engaged in such work to see why we have it formulated as we have. The Bill gives more discretion than the...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I wish to inform the House that I intend to introduce amendments to sections 42(6)(a) and 42(6)(c) on Report Stage. These amendments are necessary to incorporate amended definitions of certain terms in the Maternity Protection Acts and Adoptive Leave Acts which are being incorporated into those Acts by the Children and Family Relationships Bill 2014. I will also introduce a number of...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The term "frivolous or vexatious" is a legal one and not pejorative in any sense. It is merely a question of saying that as far as the complainant is concerned, if he or she has no reasonable chance of succeeding, the law says it is frivolous to bring the case. Similarly, it is a hardship on defendants to have to take steps to defend something which cannot succeed and the law calls that...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Senator's proposed amendment is inappropriate as it would have the effect of giving the District Court jurisdiction to award uncapped financial compensation in certain cases of unfair dismissal. This would be inconsistent with the status of the District Court as a court of local and limited jurisdiction under the Constitution. It would also be inconsistent with the scheme of the Unfair...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: Amendments Nos. 96 and 97 are of a drafting or technical nature and are consequential on amendments made elsewhere in the Bill. Amendments Nos. 96 and 97 delete subsections (7) to (10), inclusive, of section 45 to avoid duplication with section 21 of the 1946 Act, as amended by section 75 of the Bill.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Senator proposes that the Labour Court be empowered in the case of a matter which has come before it on appeal from a decision of an adjudication officer to refer that matter back to another adjudication officer to be determined again at first instance. This does not take into consideration the fact that, on appeal, the Labour Court hears the case de novo. The whole case is reheard. In...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I am not sure I understand what an example of what the Senator seeks to achieve would look like. If a case is appealed by one side or another on the basis of a point of law, it is heard by the Labour Court afresh. The Labour Court will judge the whole case. The Labour Court is not a High Court which interprets law, rather it adjudicates on an actual case. The facts are presented to it and...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: We have no evidence that there are many cases of this nature where a misapplication of the law is clogging up the system. If an inappropriate remedy is made and the case is appealed, they rehear the evidence and decide what is the appropriate remedy. I know of no evidence that the system is being clogged by the type of cases to which the Senator refers. I will consult people in the field...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: We are in agreement and I will check that out to see if there is an issue.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I am taking further advice on this section. It may be necessary to amend it on Report Stage.

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: This would add an unnecessary complication to the system where in practice a notice will be sent in advance of the expiry date. The Senators' amendment would introduce a further unnecessary administrative burden on the workplace relations commission and-or the Labour Court in dealing with complaints in respect of which the complainant has failed over an extended period to manifest any...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: The present practice is a letter is sent by registered post giving 21 days notice to the complainant. It is an administrative practice, not a statutory practice. Before the rights commissioners would exercise this power, they would have to satisfy themselves that the complainant has not pursued the complaint within the period of one year and that is how they do it. It is not dissimilar to...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I do not have a strong view but the section says it is up to the director general. The legal obligation is on the director general to satisfy himself that the complainant has not pursued the complaint. In law, we are putting a test of reasonableness on the director general before he strikes out the complaint. The way in which he chooses to exercise that test of reasonableness is the one we...

Seanad: Workplace Relations Bill 2014: Committee Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Richard Bruton: I could come in with 100 good practices that the office does but it would be unreasonable of me to ask the Labour Court to enshrine it in a set of code that has the force of law. That means that, in six months' time, the office cannot budge from the existing practice if technology changes. The Senator would seek to embed it in primary legislation and then we would be stuck with what...