FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 20(1), INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT, 1969 PARTIES : DEPT. EMPLOYMENT AFFAIRS & SOCIAL PROTECTION (REPRESENTED BY MR DAVID DODD, B.L., INSTRUCTED BY CHIEF STATE SOLICITOR'S OFFICE) - AND - A WORKER DIVISION :
SUBJECT: 1.Refusal to honour redundancy agreement. 20. (1) Where the workers concerned in a trade dispute or their trade union or trade unions request or requests the Court to investigate the dispute and undertake or undertakes before the investigation to accept the recommendation of the Court under section 68 of the Principal Act in relation thereto then, notwithstanding anything contained in the Principal Act or in this Act, the Court shall investigate the dispute and shall make a recommendation under the said section 68 in relation thereto. The Industrial Relations Act, 1946 defines a Trade Dispute in the following manner: the expression “trade dispute” means any dispute or difference between employers and workers or between workers and workers connected with the employment or non-employment, or the terms of the employment, or with the conditions of employment, of any person F1 [ and includes any such dispute or difference between employers and workers where the employment has ceased, ];The Industrial Relations Act, 1990 defines the word “worker” as used in the Industrial Relations Acts in the following manner: 3. (1) In the Industrial Relations Acts, 1946 to 1976, and this Part, “ worker” means F3 a member of the Garda Síochána referred to in subsection (1A) and any person aged 15 years or more who has entered into or works under F4 or, where the employment has ceased, worked under) a contract with an employer, whether the contract be for manual labour, clerical work or otherwise, whether it be expressed or implied, oral or in writing, and whether it be a contract of service or of apprenticeship or a contract personally to execute any work or labour………. At the hearing of the Court the parties were in agreement that the Claimant had never, within the meaning of the Acts, been an employee of the Respondent and that an employment relationship had never existed between the parties.In those circumstances the Court concludes that no trade dispute within the meaning of the Acts is in being between the parties and consequently the Court, having regard to its jurisdiction under the Industrial Relations Act, 1969, is unable to conduct an investigation of the matter or to make a Recommendation. The Court so decides.
NOTE Enquiries concerning this Recommendation should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary. |
