THE RECESSION has seen a surge in the number of employment rights cases being referred to the Labour Relations Commission’s conciliation service.
Commission chief executive Kieran Mulvey said the service had witnessed “an explosion” in referrals dealing with pay restructuring and redundancy-related disputes in the past 24 months.
In the commission’s annual report for 2009, published yesterday, Mr Mulvey predicted its caseload was likely to exceed 16,000 cases this year for the first time.
He warned the service was “not adequately equipped” to deal with this level of referral, especially as it was under obligation to investigate every complaint.
The report showed the commission received 14,569 referrals last year, a 33 per cent increase on 2008 and the highest level of referrals to date.
Many cases arose from individuals whose employment had ceased or where the employer concerned had closed their business, making the claims more difficult to investigate.
Mr Mulvey said many claims related to statutory employment rights laid down in law that could be clarified through the National Employment Rights Authority’s labour inspectorate or through various government departments, obviating the need for scheduled hearings at the LRC’s Rights Commission.
He called for the establishment of some sort of “clearing house” arrangement between the employment rights dispute investigation bodies in an effort to clear the backlog.
In its report, the commission said 20 industrial disputes were recorded in the economy during the first nine months of the year, involving 25,076 workers and resulting in 81,530 working days lost.
The report noted that last year saw the highest level of industrial action since 2001, when 114,613 working days were lost.
