European Communities (Protection of Employment) Regulations, 2000

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 2000
• Citation: IR SI 488/2000

I, MARY HARNEY, Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving further effect to Council Directive No. 75/129/EEC of 17 February 1975 relating to collective redundancies1 , as amended by Council Directive No. 92/56/EEC of 24 June 19922 , make the following Regulations:

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Protection of Employment) Regulations, 2000.

2. (1) In these Regulations-

“Act of 1977” means Protection of Employment Act, 1977 (No. 7 of 1977), as amended by the Protection of Employment Order, 1996 ( S.I. No.370 of 1996 );

“Act of 1994” means Terms of Employment (Information) Act, 1994 (No. 5 of 1994).

3. Section 2(1) of the Act of 1977 is amended-

(a) by the substitution of the following definition for the definition of “employees' representatives”:

“ ‘employees’ representatives', in relation to employees who are affected, or are likely to be affected, by proposed collective redundancies (whether by being selected for redundancy or otherwise), means-

(a) a trade union, staff association or excepted body with which it has been the practice of the employer to conduct collective bargaining negotiations, or

(b) in the absence of such a trade union, staff association or excepted body, a person or persons chosen (under an arrangement put in place by the employer) by such employees from amongst their number to represent them in negotiations with the employer;”,

and

(b) by the insertion of the following definition:

“ ‘excepted body’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 6 (3) of the Trade Union Act, 1941 (No. 22 of 1941), as amended;”.

4. Section 9(2) (a) (as amended by Article 8 of the Protection of Employment Order, 1996) of the Act of 1977 is amended by the substitution of “mitigating their consequences” for “mitigating their circumstances”.

5. The Act of 1977 is amended-

(a) in section 11, by the substitution of “ £1,500” for “£500”,

(b) in section 13, by the substitution of “ £1,500” for “£500”,

(c) in section 17(3), by the substitution of “ £1,500” for “£500”, and

(d) in section 18(3), by the substitution of “ £1,500” for “£500”.

6. (1) An employee, or a trade union, staff association or excepted body on behalf of an employee, may present a complaint to a rights commissioner that an employer has contravened section 9 or 10 of the Act of 1977...