Employment

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) experienced its busiest year yet in 2018, with a 20 per cent increase in number of hearings and almost twice as many face-to-face mediations than the year before, new figures reveal. The figures are set out in the WRC's annual report for 2018, the fourth repo

A former lecturer at Trinity College Dublin who was made redundant at the beginning of the 2018/2019 academic year has been awarded €6,144 after it was found that he was unfairly dismissed. Finding that the lecturer had made an almost irresistible connection between the public outcry he created

Legislation requiring employers to publish details of the gender pay gap in their workforce has been published. The Gender Pay Gap Information Bill has been presented to the Dáil, where it now awaits second stage.

A farmer with multiple sclerosis who was told not to come back to work until he provided his employer with a letter confirming his fitness to drive has been awarded €31,000 in the Workplace Relations Commission. The man, who worked on the farm since 1993, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis i

A woman who was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against on the grounds of her sex has settled with her former employer for an undisclosed sum. Suzanne Keenan, associate director and head of employment at MKB Law, acted for client Winnie Van Der Merwe in her claim against UHY Hacker Young Fitch

The UK is in significant violation of the provisions of a European employment charter as a result of offering an inadequate minimum wage and failing to provide workers with legal guarantees to ensure they are remunerated for overtime. A report on the European Social Charter by the European Committee

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has appeared before the Supreme Court to exercise its amicus curiae function in a significant case on the rights of persons with disabilities to have reasonable accommodations made in the workplace. The Commission is appearing as amicus curiae i

An Employment Tribunal judge has upheld a ruling that an SNP councillor's beliefs about Scottish independence are similar to a religion. Chris McEleny, SNP group leader on Inverclyde Council, brought a discrimination case against the Ministry of Defence (MoD) last year, claiming it unfairly tar

The spouses and partners of highly-skilled workers coming to Ireland from outside the EEA will now have immediate and full access to the Irish labour market without the need for an employment permit. The new "streamlined" process was jointly announced today by Business Minister Heather Humphreys and

The Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has launched a landmark legal challenge before the High Court in London in a bid to extend collective bargaining rights for outsourced workers. The union is alleging that outsourced workers at the University of London are being denied their righ

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates writes on an anomaly as to whether wages claims should be brought in the Workplace Relations Commission and Labour Court or in the main Irish courts. The issue of where wages claims should be brought came to a head in a case

A woman who was hit on the head by closing lift doors at her work premises, has lost her claim for damages as it was concluded that the incident was caused by her own negligence. Accepting that the placement of sensors on the lift was consistent with the industry norm, and that voiceover warnings we

The nurses strike has been suspended following intervention by the Labour Court, which investigated the dispute in the exercise of its statutory powers under the Industrial Relations Act 1990. Making a number of recommendations and setting out the details of an Enhanced Nursing Practice salary scale

A specialist employment law firm has offered pro bono legal assistance to workers in the horse-racing industry who it says have suffered from a new change in the law. Richard Grogan, principal solicitor at Richard Grogan & Associates, told Irish Legal News that S.I. 576 of 2018, signed last Dece

John Kelly, solicitor at Worthingtons Solicitors in Belfast, explores the response of employers to criminal offences committed outside of work. Following the sentencing of Irish League footballer Jay Donnelly last month for the distribution of an indecent image of a child, there has been much debate