Employment Appeal Tribunal workload up by 20%

The number of claims before the Employment Appeals Tribunal rose by more than 20 per last year on the previous 12 months.

Figures released today show the Tribunal, originally established by the Government in 1967 to resolve disputes over statutory redundancy payments and subsequently expanded, dealt with 3,994 claims and appeals, up 795 on 2000.

The number of cases referred to the Tribunal rose to 5,257 from 3,377 in 2000, which represents a 56 per cent increase. A number of these cases are still pending, the Tribunal's Annual Report notes.

The vast majority of the cases heard involved unfair dismissals, breaches of minimum notice laws and disputes over redundancy payments.

The number of cases contesting holiday entitlements referred to the Tribunal also rose by nearly half to 264, an increase of 94 on the previous year.

The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mr Frank Fahey, said the report illustrated the success of the Tribunal in fulfilling its remit.

He said the Tribunal had managed to "provide a fair, impartial, speedy and informal forum" for the resolution of disputes.