Major Changes Introduced To Benefit Employers And Employees

The Minister for Jobs and Minister of State for Business and Employment have announced two major changes to provide certainty and improve services, pay and conditions for thousands of employers and employees across the country.

The first change is the reinstatement of Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) for the security and for the contract cleaning industries brings improved rates of pay for workers in these sectors, with new basic hourly rates of €10.75 and €9.75 respectively. The Orders, which take effect today, also set enhanced rates for overtime and other improved terms and conditions for workers.

Secondly, the five bodies previously responsible for disputes in the workplace are merged into two, to provide a better service at less cost to the State, employers and employees. When completely bedded in the reforms will result in 20% reduction in staff and 10% reduction in budgets. This represents the biggest reforms to the State's employment rights and industrial relations machinery in 70 years.

As a result of these reforms:

• The delay for Equality cases has been halved in a three-month period this year

• The backlog for Rights Commissioners hearings has been reduced from over 20 weeks to an average of 8 weeks now

• Complaints are acknowledged within a matter of days. Before these reforms it took an average of 8 months

• The Workplace Relations Commission will reduce waiting times with a target of three months from the time of complaint to hearing

• Employers are notified, on average, within 10 working days of the complaint being lodged, thus increasing the possibility of a resolution being reached without the need for any hearing

• There are now a total of two e-forms to be used – one for the first complaint, one for appeals – replacing the 44 paper forms that existed previously

• A series of measures have made the process less legalistic and to encourage early resolution

• Appointments are more transparent, with all adjudicators and decision-makers appointed by public competition through the PAS

• The previous practice bringing cases related to the same incident to multiple for a has ended

Speaking today, Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton said: "If we are to deliver full employment in the coming years, we must have modern, flexible workplace relations institutions providing world-class services at low cost to employers and employees. The system that was in place to resolve workplace disputes in 2011, which had grown up in a haphazard way over years, was far from that – characterised by forum-shopping, overlapping claims, delays, and a high degree of formality that often worked against early and easy resolution of claims.

"Reform is never easy – and we have faced many difficulties along this road. However the system that has emerged clearly fits the ambition we set for these reforms back in 2011. We are merging 5 bodies into two. We are delivering a less legalistic service which encourages early resolution of disputes. We are slashing delays and simplifying processes. And we are delivering a new system which will use 20% less staff and 10% less money, freeing those resources up for other needs.

"I wish to pay tribute to the huge number of people who played a role in delivering this project, which was implemented internally and not by using external consultants – staff in my Department and in the 5 bodies concerned have played a particularly important role, as have external stakeholders including unions and employer groups who have provided valuable feedback and support at all stages".

(MH/LM)