New Single Complaint Form
The Department and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation under Minister Richard Bruton are currently undertaking the long over-due project of reform and consolidation of employment rights and industrial relations bodies into one centralised body.
Early steps in this project have already come on stream with the introduction of the ‘Single Complaint Form’ (SCF) and an interim website, www.workplacerelations.ie.
The SCF is now used for all first instance complaints and referrals to the Rights Commissioner Service, the Employment Appeals Tribunal, the National Employment Rights Authority, the Equality Tribunal and the Labour Court. The new form will replace 30 existing complaint forms that currently accommodate more than 80 specific types of complaints. The form can be viewed at www.workplacerelations.ie
The interim website is designed to be a single point of contact for:
- information in relation to employment, equality and industrial relations rights and obligations;
- the receipt and registration of all first instance complaints under the single complaint form; and
- dealing with enquiries concerning the status of complaints and associated procedures and processes.
The interim website will remain in place until the websites of the Labour Relations Commission, National Employment Rights Authority, Employment Appeals Tribunal, the Labour Court and the Equality Tribunal are replaced by a single website for workplace relations.
Employers should review the ‘publications’ section of the website as it contains useful booklets such as codes of practice, complaints guidelines, appeals and enforcement forms, information guides and annual reports of various statutory bodies. The website is also a very useful source of information on a range of employment rights and obligations.
The overall reform of the entire employment rights and industrial relations arena is progressing and interested parties should note that further changes will be introduced throughout 2012 and 2013. Updates and press releases are regularly published on the Department’s website www.djei.ie.
The O’Rourke Reid e-zine will continue to report on any development in this area.