Workplace Relations Act 2015 – No.16 of 2015

The Workplace Relations Act 2015 has recently been signed into law and is one of the most important pieces of legislation to come into the employment law arena in recent years.The Act is intended to make provision with respect to the resolution, mediation and adjudication of disputes and complaints relating to contraventions of, or entitlements under, certain enactments governing the employment relationship between employers and employees.The Act provides for the establishment of a body known as the Workplace Relations Commission and to provide for the dissolution of the Labour Relations Commission and the transfer of its functions to the new body. The Act also provides for the dissolution of the Employment Appeals Tribunal and the transfer of its first instance functions to the new body and its appellate functions to the Labour Court. In addition the Act provides for the transfer of the functions of the Director of the Equality Tribunal to the new body. Finally the Act will provide for the repeal of certain enactments and to provide for the amendment of certain enactments etc.We propose to publish a series of blog posts over the coming days highlighting some of the important features of the new Act.