Labour rep calls for appointment of additional WRC Adjudication Officers
- Huge delays in hearing redundancy cases causing workers financial hardship
Labour representative in Dublin South-West and employment solicitor Ciarán Ahern has urged Government to fast track the appointment of additional Adjudication Officers to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) to deal with the huge backlog in cases.
With a spate of recent redundancies in the tech sector in particular, Ahern said many workers are hesitant to challenge their redundancies because of long delays in getting a case heard in the WRC.
Mr. Ahern said:
“The Government is failing to vindicate the rights of the phenomenal number of people who have been made redundant by the tech giants and other employers in recent months. Labour is demanding the appointment of additional Adjudication Officers to the WRC to clear the backlog of cases. Justice delayed is justice denied.
“I’m dealing with redundancies non-stop at the moment – mainly in tech. With the floods of people entering the jobs market from these companies, workers are now worried that the severance they are being offered won’t get them through until they find a new job. However, they are also hesitant to challenge their redundancies because of the long delays getting a case heard at the WRC and consequent delay in receiving any compensation.
“They can’t afford to wait for 10-12 months for their case to be heard so they feel they must accept low severance offers from their employers becuase they will receive this payment far sooner than any potential WRC compensation. It’s simply not good enough.
“These tech giants are not short of a few bob. Results released last week by Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon sparked a stock market rally as the tech sector giants posted stronger Q1 earnings than many analysts had been expecting. Workers cannot pay the price for these companies over-hiring and failing to properly plan their workforce needs.
“The streamlining of our industrial relations mechanisms in 2015 was carried out to ensure better, fairer and more efficient industrial relations mechanisms in this State. However, due to the dearth of Adjudication Officers, ordinary workers are still not receiving swift justice.
“Workers must not be put off from making a claim in good faith because the Government is failing to prioritise the industrial relations machinery of the State.”