A Government-appointed review group has recommended significant reform of procedures of the Employment Appeal Tribunal, including the establishment of a new statutory process to examine cases in advance of a full hearing.
The group, chaired by Seán O'Riordain, vice-chairman of the tribunal and former general secretary of the Association of Higher Civil Servants, proposed that the new preliminary process would involve a pre-examination of each case by a member of the tribunal.
All parties would be obliged to attend and give an outline of their respective positions.
The report argued that the establishment of the preliminary process could result in the procedures for substantive hearings at the Employment Appeals Tribunal being less formal and more focused.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal is a quasi-judicial body with a role to adjudicate on disputes involving individual employment rights that arise either during the course of employment or on the termination of employment.
The tribunal currently consists of a chairman, 35 vice-chairmen, and a panel of 80 other members nominated by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions or by bodies representing employers.
The review group report, which was published yesterday by Minister of State for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen, said that the Government should introduce a new revised statutory instrument governing the procedures of the tribunal.
It maintained that these procedures should be speedy, inexpensive, fair and, as far as possible, informal.
"Determinations should be issued without undue delay, made publicly available on the Employment Appeal Tribunal website and be legally consistent," it stated.
The review group recommended that the tribunal should be given powers to issue determinations on an agreed basis where the parties had reached a settlement between them.
It said that this would have the effect "of giving tribunal imprimatur to a settlement in much the same way as a civil court can do".
The group also proposed that the tribunal should be given power to facilitate an expansion of claims by an appellant in appropriate circumstances.
"This means that if during a hearing it became obvious that an appellant would be entitled to relief under other employment rights legislation, eg a minimum notice payment, but had not applied for it in the first instance, he should, in all justice, not be barred from the entitlement because he had not applied for it on his application form," it stated.
The review group also recommended that more staff be provided to the tribunal and that a formal training programme in procedures be introduced for vice-chairs and members.
In a statement, Mr Killeen said he believed that the introduction of a new preliminary system would speed up the process, clarify the issues in dispute and potentially lead to an early settlement between parties.
"I have therefore asked my officials to put in train the steps necessary to enable the early introduction of this important new procedure," he said.
