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CIA/E T N
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1982
Annual Report of
Employment Appeals
Tribunal
T
he Thirteenth Annual Report of the Employment
Appeals Tribunal describes the activities of the
Tribunal during the year ended 31st December 1980.
The Tribunal acts in divisions, each division
consisting of either the Chairman or a Vice-Chairman
and two ordinary members, one drawn from the
Employer's side of the panel and one from the Trade
Unions' side. More than one division may sit on the
same day. Claims and appeals are heard in public unless
the Tribunal, at its discretion, decides that the hearing
be private.
Number of Claims and Appeals
The Total number of claims and appeals referred to
the Tribunal in 1980 was 2,478 (754 claims under the
Unfair Dismissals Act, 676 appeals under the
Redundancy Payments Acts and 1,048 appeals under
the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act).
This total represents an increase of approximately 75%
on the 1979 total of 1,410 (402 under the Unfair
Dismissals Act, 504 under the Redundancy Payments
Acts and 504 under the Minimum Notice and Terms of
Employment Act).
Unfair Dismissals Act 1977
Of the 754 claims referred to the Tribunal under the
Unfair Dismissals Act, 685 were direct claims to the
Tribunal and 69 were appeals from the recom-
mendations of Rights Commissioners. The claimants in
411 of the 682 direct appeals also claimed under either
the Redundancy Payments Acts or the Minimum Notice
and Terms of Employment Act. 249 of the claimants
appealed under the three Acts. Of the 69 appeals against
the recommendations of Rights Commissioners, 37 were
appeals by employees and 32 by employers. Of the 69
appeals, 36 recommendations were upheld, 10 were
rejected, I was varied and 19 appeals were withdrawn
before or during hearing. 3 appeals Were awaiting a
hearing on the 31st December, 1980.
In all 488 claims were disposed of in the year under
review. 115 claims were allowed, 185 were dismissed, 81
were withdrawn during hearing and the remaining 107
were disposed of without a Hearing. The Tribunal
awarded compensation in 87 cases, amounting to
£150,706.00, an average of £1,732.25 per case. Re-
instatement was ordered in 21 cases and re-engagement
was ordered in one case. No compensation was awarded
to six claimants who were found to have been fairly
dismissed.
Redundancy Payments Acts
The majority of the 676 appeals referred to the
Tribunal under this Act were appeals by employees for
redundancy payments on the grounds that they were
dismissed by reason of redundancy. 184 appeals were
made by employees against the decisions of Deciding
Officers on the question of weekly payments, which
were abolished under the Redundancy Payments Act,
1979. There were a few appeals from employers from
decisions of the Minister for Labour relating to their
entitlement to rebate. The remainder related to disputes
on questions of continuity of employment, transfers of
business, lay-off and short time working, amount of
outgoing weekly wage, offers of alternative employment
etc.
Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, 1973
The 1,048 appeals referred to the Tribunal under this
Act were claims by dismissed employees for
compensation for loss sustained by them by reason of
their employers' failure to give them the notice required
by Section 4 of this Act.
382 appeals were allowed; 192 were dismissed; 50
were withdrawn during hearing and 148 were disposed
of without a hearing. In all, 772 appeals were disposed
of by the Tribunal.
Number of Tribunal Sittings
In 1980, divisions of the Tribunal sat (sometimes
simultaneously) on 244 days at 72 different venues
throughout the 26 counties. On 146 of these days, two
or more divisions of the Tribunal sat. The total number
of sittings was 423, an increase of 14% approximately on
the 1979 total of 371. 240 sittings were in Dublin and
183 were in the Provinces. The number of sittings at the
different venues varied from one to 240.
Delay in Hearing Appeals
The delay in hearing appeals on the 31st December,
1980 was approximately eighteen weeks. The
increasing delay in hearing appeals was due to the
75% increase in the number of appeals referred to the
Tribunal; the time taken to hear appeals under the
Unfair Dismissals Act and to some extent to
adjournments.
The increasing involvement of the legal profession,
which has occurred mainly in claims under the Unfair
Dismissals Act, has tended to extend the hearing time of
such claims. While the Tribunal normally allows
minimum of a half day to each unfair dismissal claim,
the duration of the hearing in a number of cases has
extended over several days and, in a small number of
cases, over more than seven days.
Adjournments
Applications for the adjournment of listed cases
are only granted for grave cause and when sought
promptly after the notice of hearing has been sent to
each party. Nevertheless, in 1980, by reason of
adjournments, the Tribunal found itself with no cases
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