HR E-ssentials from Graphite HRM

Welcome to the July edition of HR E-ssentials, the monthly ezine from Graphite HRM on developments in people management and employment law practice.

There have been some recent employment law developments, and, as a result, we have a strong focus on legislation this month. One of the articles provides a summary of the Redundancy legislation which was enacted recently. The second article incorporates an overview of Health and Safety legislation and the changes in this important area.

Other items in the ezine include news relating to recommendations on the Employment Appeals Tribunal procedures, and Q&As on redundancy and annual leave.

Contents

Graphite Workshops

Please refer to the Graphite website for more information on these workshops.
Please note that places are limited on all workshops. For further information, or to make a booking, please call Fran on 01 6627099 or email fran.graydon@graphitehrm.com

Graphite HRM’s Summer Breakfast Seminar 2007

HR News

Employment Law Update

Graphite Consultation Queries

Overview of Graphite HRM's Summer Breakfast Seminar 2007

On 28th June, Graphite hosted its 2007 Summer Breakfast Seminar in the Clarion Hotel in Dublin. Chaired by Mr. T.J. Byrne, Head of HR Consulting for Graphite HRM, this year's title was "The Future of Irish Employment Law", a theme explored from both a practical and academic perspective by a number of important speakers. Prof. Ferdinand von Prondzynski, President of D.C.U., opened the Seminar with the Keynote address entitled "What kind of Employment Law will best promote a successful and fair Ireland?" Drawing on his considerable experience in the area, Prof. von Prondzynski made a comparative analysis between the state of Employment Law in Ireland in the early 1970's and the current obligations placed on employers and employees to abide by the law. He further commented that the "Voluntary" nature of Irish Industrial Relations has all but gone, although he argues that it may yet come full circle with the advent of increased Consultation legislation at E.U. level.

Patricia Murray, Organisational Psychologist with the Health and Safety Authority, and one of the authors of the new Code of Practice on the Prevention and Resolution of Bullying in the Workplace, spoke with delegates about the difficulties of dealing with an allegation of Bullying in the Workplace and the different methods available to employers to investigate and resolve such a situation. She also gave participants a step-by-step guide to interpreting and applying the new Code of Practice and how it will impact on their organisations.

The Seminar also played host to Dr. Christian Welz, Research Manager with the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions who spoke about "Recent developments in the European social dialogue and its impact on Ireland”. Delegates found his insights and analysis of the working of Social Dialogue at E.U. level to be most interesting, and he gave a unique insight into the inner workings of how legislation, that has a direct effect on Irish workplaces, is formed in Europe.

Graphite HRM's Head of HR Compliance, Anne O'Callaghan, closed the Seminar with an update on the recent changes to the Redundancy Acts, together with forthcoming changes to Agency Workers' regulations, Information and Consultation arrangements, and the National Minimum Wage. Further details on the recent changes to the Redundancy Payments Legislation can be found in this month's Ezine.

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HR News

Minister for Labour Affairs Announces Reform of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) Procedures

On 14th June 2007, the then Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr. Tony Killeen, published the Report of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) Procedures Revision Group. This group was set up in February 2007 to examine the procedures of the EAT, and to make recommendations on improving its service to employers and employees.

One of the key recommendations of the report is the introduction of a preliminary process prior to a substantive hearing. The Minister stated that this would assist in clarifying the issues in dispute and could potentially lead to an early settlement between the parties. Mr. Killeen has asked his officials to put in place the structures necessary to enable the introduction of this preliminary process as soon as possible. The preliminary process would take place after the exchange of initial documentation, and before the substantive hearing. It would entail a pre-examination of each case by a single member of the Tribunal where the parties would give an outline of their respective cases (the substantive hearing requires three members of the Tribunal). The preliminary hearing would confirm the basic factual information, seek to identify the core issues between the parties, and, in so far as it is the wish of the parties, seek to facilitate a resolution by way of a settlement between the employer and employee.

Other recommendations of note include:

• Determinations of the Tribunal should be publicly available on the EAT website;
• Enable the Tribunal to facilitate the expansion of claims in appropriate circumstances (e.g. if, during a hearing, it becomes obvious that the claimant would be entitled to relief under another piece of employment legislation, beyond the piece of legislation under which the claim is being made, the claimant should not be barred from the entitlement simply because it was not included on his/her initial application form).

The Group also made a recommendation with regard to the policy on compensation for unfair dismissal. While the Group accepted that it was outside of its mandate on EAT procedures, it felt that it was relevant to the objective of improving the fairness of the EAT process. It recommended that consideration be given to amending the law to remove the “actual loss” provision attached to unfair dismissal compensation. This provision places a limit on compensation to the actual financial loss suffered by the employee as a result of the dismissal, which, depending on circumstances, may be modest, e.g. if the employee commenced in a new job shortly after the dismissal. In this case, even where an employer may have severely breached the employee’s rights, only a small amount of compensation may be payable by the employer (the IBEC representative in the Group dissented from this recommendation).

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Employment Law Update

National Minimum Wage Increase July 2007

From 1st July 2007, the National Minimum Wage increased from €8.30 to €8.65 per hour. The National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, applies to all employees who are in employment over the age of 18. There are some exceptions to this, including those who are employed by a close relative, or those who are engaged in statutory apprenticeships. Also, some employees, such as those who are under 18 or are trainees, are only guaranteed a reduced or sub-minimum rate of the national minimum wage.

Note that Collective Agreements or Joint Labour Committee and Joint Industrial Council agreements which stipulate greater hourly amounts still apply.

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Employment Law Update

Overview of new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations, 2007

The new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations, 2007, were announced by the then Minister for Labour Affairs, Mr. Tony Killeen, on 14th June 2007. The new Regulations will come into operation on 1st November 2007 (subject to particular periods for Regulations 9 (2), 122, 134, 160 (2)).

The updated Regulations replace, and largely repeal, the earlier Regulations as outlined in the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) Regulations 1993, and also replace a wide list of secondary legislation in the area of health and safety in the workplace, as well as re-transposing a number of EU Directives. However, the new Regulations maintain the general focus of the earlier provisions, while introducing a number of refinements to make them more coherent, user-friendly, and relevant to an evolving work environment.

The term ‘General Application’ is intended to convey the message that the Regulations apply to all employments, as opposed to some of the other health and safety Regulations, which have been industry- or task-specific e.g. working with chemical agents, explosive atmospheres, vibration at work.

This article examines the Regulations in more detail and looks at the importance of Health & Safety legislation for employers.

Article Location: Login to the Client Zone > Click 'Health and Safety' – select article from under 'Employment Law Update'.

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Employment Law Update

Recent Changes to Redundancy Payments Legislation

On foot of recent Social Partnership negotiations to produce the National Agreement “Towards 2016”, the partners agreed that there was a gap in Irish Redundancy legislation which does not address collective redundancy situations which may be considered to be “exceptional”. As a result, a new Act has been introduced which is known as the Protection of Employment (Exceptional Collective Redundancies and Related Matters) Act, 2007. While there is no definition for an ‘Exceptional Collective Redundancy’, it refers to circumstances where a large number of people are being made redundant for reasons that are either unclear or open to resolution. This article outlines the key changes which have been introduced as a result of this new Act.

Article Location: Login to the Client Zone > Click 'Termination of Employment' – select article from under 'Employment Law Update'.

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Graphite Consultation Queries

For Premium and Premium Plus customers, Graphite provides a HR Consultation Service. As part of our regular monthly review in HR E-ssentials, Graphite HRM provides you with an insight into the type of queries we get through this consultation service.

Question: We are considering a number of redundancies in our organisation and have been told it might be considered a Collective Redundancy. How do we know if it is a Collective Redundancy and what implications would that have for our processes?

Answer: A redundancy situation can be considered to be "Collective" where the number of employees made redundant in any 30 day period amounts to:

Where an organisation is involved in a Collective Redundancy situation, it must notify the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment at least 30 days before the first formal notice of redundancy is served. Should an organisation serve notice or make any employee redundant during this time, it could be liable to a fine of up to €250,000. During the 30-day period, the Minister reserves the right to intervene to reduce or eliminate the need for redundancies. Also during this time, the employer must engage in a genuine consultation process with employees to explain the rationale for redundancy and examine alternative options.

Question : How do I calculate an employee's pay while they are on Annual Leave?

Answer : How an employee's annual leave pay is calculated will depend on how they are paid throughout the year.

In the case of a person whose pay never varies from week to week, or month to month, regardless of the amount of work done, a week's annual leave pay should equate to their normal week's pay (including any bonus or allowance that do not vary with the amount of work done e.g. meal allowance).

Where an employee's rate of pay varies with the amount of work done (e.g. piece rate system or sales commission), Statutory Instrument no. 475 of 1997 states that the employer should go back 13 weeks from the week before the annual leave begins and get an average week's pay for each annual leave week. For example, if a sales person who works on commission earned €12,941 in the 13 weeks before taking annual leave, she would be entitled to €995.46 for each week of annual leave.

According to a key Labour Court decision, where an employee earns a payment for overtime, their annual leave payment should only reflect this sum where the overtime is regular and rostered.

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Graphite Workshops

Implications of Employment Law,
one day workshop,
17th July 2007
(CORK)

Developing an Employee Handbook,
one day workshop,
19th July 2007
(CORK)

Implications of Employment Law,
one day workshop,
16th August 2007

InvestigatorTraining
two day workshop,
22nd and 23rd
August 2007

Selection Interviewing Skills
one day workshop,
28th August 2007

Managing Dignity and Respect in the
Workplace
half day workshop,
12th September 2007.

Implementing Contracts of Employment
half day workshop,
12th September 2007

To make an enquiry,
or to book a place
on any of Graphite
HRM's workshops
click here to go to
www.graphitehrm.com
or email
fran.graydon@
graphitehrm.com

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