There seems to exist a certain amount of confusion among both employers and employees about what the Industrial Court is there for, and how an employee who feels wronged by the actions of their employer, or a manager in the organisation that employs them, can seek redress from the court.
Having run across several such issues over the past few “approaching-end-of-pandemic” months, I am responding to requests to clarify the procedure for the public. Please email me at diana.m.wyatt@gmail.com if the following is unclear, as the IRA often is very difficult to understand, especially for legal people.
First, I will try to clarify the purpose and the authority of the Industrial Court, then to give directions on how to get there, who can get there, who cannot and why.
The Industrial Court is the final arbiter of industrial relations disputes.
In that jurisdiction it has enormous power, more than any other court of record. This means that it is a court which records written judgements that are then used as precedents that can be quoted in support of an argument in other disputes.
Once an award is made in reference to a particular industrial relations issue, whether employer, employee or trade union agrees with it or not, it must be obeyed. No ifs or ands or buts. It cannot be questioned in any court on any grounds whatsoever.
If there is a narrow question of whether some aspect of another existing law, such as constitutional law or fraud, was violated in making the decision, that separate matter can be referred to the High Court, but the initial industrial relations issue will still be up to the Industrial Court to settle, because industrial relations and law are different disciplines.
Judges in the Industrial Court must have qualifications other than just law as is required in other courts.
Not all issues can go to the court, either. The court is there for workers. Managers who feel their problems have been bypassed by their CEOs or have been unfairly dismissed cannot take their grievances to the Industrial Court, because they are not workers under the law.
Strange, though, because, except with entrepreneurs and others who own the business they work in, managers are also almost always employees, just as workers are. But the law is the law: they are managers, not workers. They can hire lawyers at thousands of dollars an hour, however, and go to the civil courts if they want to. The Industrial Court is free to workers.
Police officers, members of the military, fire and prison officers also cannot take their problems to the Industrial Court. They have their own disciplinary tribunals.
As do teachers and members of the Public Service, which is why they are so rarely fired. There are thousands (literally) of teachers and public servants but there are relatively few members of the services commissions to try their disciplinary issues. It can take years for a case of a teacher abusing a child to be heard and determined.
As for hearings of disciplinary charges involving any of the – what is it? 80,000 pub
