1 October 2015 marked the commencement of the most important
reform to employment dispute resolution procedures in Ireland with
the introduction of the new workplace relations system under the
Workplace Relations Act 2015 (the “2015
Act”). As the new system is now in operation
for just over ten weeks, it is an opportune time to consider the
principal lessons learned since its introduction.
Under the new system, all claims submitted on or after 1 October
2015 are now heard at first instance by an Adjudication Officer of
the Workplace Relations Commission
(“WRC”). Appeals of decisions of
the Adjudication Officer will be heard by a reconfigured Labour
Court.
Procedures setting out the practices of the WRC and the
requirements on the parties to a dispute at first instance (the
“Procedures”) were published in October
2015. The Labour Court also recently published rules relating
to the processes to be followed in appeals against a decision of an
Adjudication Officer
