Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1398. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 345 of 5 April 2017, if her attention has been drawn to the fact that only 10% of cases from the Equality Tribunal have been appealed to the Labour Court (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19175/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC merges the functions and activities of the former Labour Relations Commission (LRC), the Equality Tribunal, the National Employment Rights Authority (NERA), and the first instance functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) and the Labour Court.  The Equality Tribunal was dissolved on the vesting day of the WRC.

With regard to the statistics on appeals published in the WRC’s 2016 Annual Report, and given the time period involved following the establishment of the WRC, the overall numbers of appeals to the Court are low. Having regard to that, some 90 per cent of Adjudication decisions were accepted by the parties and were not appealed.

As outlined in the WRC Annual Report, the position is that in relation to the decisions issued by the Labour Court in appeals on cases where the original complaint was made after 1 October 2015, of these, 47 per cent were upheld, 20 per cent were overturned and 31 per cent of those appealed were varied, mostly in relation to the quantum of the award.  Two appeals were deemed to be outside the time-limits. 

In terms of the Deputy’s question the proportion of decisions on appeals overturned by the Labour Court is one-fifth. In the nine months prior to the establishment of the WRC, 16 per cent of the appeals to the Labour Court taken in relation to Equality Tribunal decisions and heard by the Labour Court, were overturned. This does not appear to be statistically significant at this stage; particularly in light of the low overall number under consideration.

The WRC will monitor and report on these outcomes annually.