Workplace Relations Act 2015

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Amendment of Equal Status Act 2000

84. (1) The Act of 2000 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1) of section 2, by—

(i) the insertion of the following definitions:

“‘Act of 2015’ means the Workplace Relations Act 2015;

‘adjudication officer’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2015;

‘mediation officer’ has the same meaning as it has in the Act of 2015;

‘Labour Court’ means the body established by the Industrial Relations Act 1946 ;”,

and

(ii) the deletion of the definition of “Director”,

(b) by the substitution (other than in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (j) of subsection (2) of section 3) of “Director of the Workplace Relations Commission” for “Director” in each place that it occurs,

(c) by the substitution, in subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (j) of subsection (2) of section 3, of “adjudication officer” for “Director”,

(d) in section 20, by—

(i) the deletion of the definitions of “equality mediation officer” and “equality officer”, and

(ii) the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘Minister’ means the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation;”,

(e) in Part III, by—

(i) the substitution of “adjudication officer” for “equality officer” in each place that it occurs, and

(ii) the substitution of “mediation officer” for “equality mediation officer” in each place that it occurs,

(f) in section 30, by the insertion after the word “published” of “on the internet in such form and manner as the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission considers appropriate”,

(g) by the substitution of the following section for section 31:

“31. Section 43 of the Act of 2015 shall apply to a decision under section 25 in relation to a case referred to the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission under section 21 as it applies to a decision of an adjudication officer under the said section 41 , subject to—

(a) the modification that the following paragraph is substituted for paragraph (b) of subsection (1):

‘(b) on application to it in that behalf, with the consent of the complainant, by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission,’,

and

(b) the following modifications:

(i) references to a complaint or dispute shall be construed as references to a case so referred;

(ii) the reference to section 41 shall be construed as a reference to section 25 of this Act;

(iii) references to decision of an adjudication officer and the reference to decision of an adjudication officer under that section shall be construed as references and a reference, respectively, to decision of the Director General of the Workplace Relations Commission under section 25 of this Act; and

(iv) references to employee and employer shall be construed as references to complainant and respondent respectively.”,

(h) by the deletion of section 32,

(i) in section 41, by the substitution of “Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation” for “Minister” in each place that it occurs, and

(j) in section 44, by—

(i) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) Summary proceedings for an offence under this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Workplace Relations Commission or the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.”,

(ii) the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (2):

“(2) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of any person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person shall, as well as the body corporate, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.”,

and

(iii) the deletion of subsection (3).

(2) The amendment of the Act of 2000 effected by this section shall not apply in relation to a case referred to the Director of the Equality Tribunal under section 21 of that Act before the commencement of this section.