David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 27:

In page 24, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following:“Employer obligation to display notice of Employment Rights in the workplace

26. Every employer shall display in a prominent position in or at the place of work, being a place to which employees have regular access and in such a position that it may be read easily by employees, a notice or notices in a form, manner, and in an appropriate language or more than one language that is reasonably likely to be understood by the employees concerned containing the following information—

(a) entitlements under employment legislation, either generally or by reference to particular enactments or a particular class or particular classes of enactments or to employees of one or more than one particular class or description, as may be specified in the notice concerned,

(b) complaints procedures concerning entitlements under employment legislation, and

(c) the contact details of the Workplace Relations Service for the purposes of—

(i) making general enquiries regarding entitlements under, and the application and enforcement of, employment legislation, and

(ii) communicating information to the Director pursuant to the Protected Disclosure Act.”.

I am not going to speak too long on this amendment as we had a lengthy discussion on it on Committee Stage. We disagreed strongly on what the amendment was seeking to do and on our view of what would be reasonable in terms of a notice that employers would be obliged to provide for employees in the workplace in respect of employment rights.

The amendment provides that each employer shall display in a prominent position in a place of work a notice or notices in a form, manner and in an appropriate language or more than one language that is reasonably likely to be understood by the employees concerned. This notice would contain information either generally or by reference to particular enactments or a particular class or particular classes of enactments or to employees of one or more than one particular class or description. It would also contain information about complaints procedures concerning entitlements under employment legislation and the contact details of the workplace relations service. This would refer to the various different Acts under which employees are protected, the contact details for the workplace commission service and the procedure for making a complaint. It would make people aware of the various Acts under which their rights are covered and what they need to do in terms of accessing the workplace relations commission. Not every worker is in a union, as the Minister knows.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions recommended the provision of an obligation to display a notice of basic employment and equality rights information. If the Minister is not minded to accept this amendment, would it be possible for the workplace relations commission to examine what is possible and feasible? This could be one of its jobs of work. It could examine ensuring that employers provide basic information to employees. I imagine the Minister wants this commission to work properly. This is about streamlining the system and making it more efficient in terms of employment rights for both employers and employees. I imagine the Minister wants people to use the service and to be aware of it in order to avail of it. In very simple terms, if we make this service available to people, it is only to the good of the Government which is proposing this commission.

Notwithstanding any concerns the Minister might have about this amendment, will the Minister reflect on the broader point and update the House on what he considers reasonable in terms of the responsibility an employer would have to provide information to employees in respect of this new commission? This is the purpose of the amendment. A new entity is being set up. There should therefore be an obligation on employers to ensure that employees have access to it, know about it and that the contact numbers are in their places of work if they need to avail of the service.