Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Subsections 6 and 8 of section 42, read together, provide that the standard limitation period for bringing a complaint under employment and equality legislation will be six months from the relevant date, extendable for a further six months by an adjudication officer where the complainant has demonstrated reasonable cause for his or her delay in initiating the complaint. The Senator's proposed limitation period of two years with an additional six months extension would be unworkable from a practical point of view. It would be inconsistent with the key principle running through the reforms, which the Bill seeks to achieve, namely, the resolution of employment-related complaints and disputes as close to the workplace as possible and at the earliest possible date. I consider that a period of two years within which to refer a complaint to the workplace relations commission would be unnecessarily long and unreasonable. Such a proposal would also be inconsistent with the employment legislation in other EU member states. Therefore I am not going to accept these amendments.