Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton yesterday announced the first steps in his plan to streamline the State’s five employment rights bodies.
These bodies include the Labour Relations Commission and the National Employment Rights Authority, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, and the Labour Court while the Equality Tribunal may also be included.
Director of NERA, Ger Deering will be responsible for the coordination of the streamlining process and Kieran Mulvey, Chief Executive Officer of the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) will lead NERA.
Amongst other developments to be concluded by September include the creation of an Implementation Group which will be chaired by a senior official of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and will consist of representatives of all the bodies concerned as well as Mr Ger Deering.
There will be a consultation process, to be concluded by early September, with relevant stakeholders including employers groups, trade unions and those within the legal profession.
Furthermore, the Minister intends to aim towards a shared services drive between the employment rights bodies and the Courts Service to facilitate this, the Minister will be appointing 5 County Registrars as Vice Chairs of the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
Finally, a website for the five bodies will also be created, which will serve to provide comprehensive up-to -date information on employment rights to employers and workers. The five forms required in relation to all workplace disputes currently in use will also be replaced by a single online form for the Employment Appeals Tribunal.