in this video i want to take a look at where you go with appeals in relation to
employment disputes so as you know you bring most employment
disputes for example for unfair dismissal or for
a whistleblower complaint or something of that nature organization working time
might complain you bring it to the wrc if you're not
happy with the outcome there you bring an appeal to the labor court
but what happens if you go to the labor court and you're not happy with the
labor court either give a further appeal the further appeal
is to the high court but on a point of law
on a point of law what does that actually mean
there's a recent enough case there in april of 2019 i think
is the decision was handed down from the high court
it involved a gentleman who worked from for the department of employment
and social protection he had been disciplined i think at the wrc
or in the workplace and he brought a claim to the wrc he was happy with the
outcome there and he brought a claim then to or brought
the appeal to the labor court he wasn't happy with the outcome of the
labor court uphill and he brought a judicial review
claim or case to the high court so basically he was asking the high court
to look at the case and he appealed to the high crore
high court on 10 points of law in other words
he alleged that the labor court had made a mess of his case on ten points of law
because remember he can only go to the high court on a point of law
not on the substantive issue it's useful daughter to understand and to
recognize what the high court has found in this case because
it gives a good synopsis a good clarification or confirmation
of appeals in such cases so the high court firstly looked at its
jurisdiction to deal with appeals from the labor court
it noted that it could only concern itself with issues of law
what does this mean what does issues of law mean
firstly it means that they could not the high court cannot concern
itself with the substantive claim in this particular case
the substantive claim was that he had been penalized in the workplace for
having made a protective disclosure i understand
but the high court cannot concern itself with the substantive claim
that was brought to either the wrc or the labor court
it can concern itself with points of law it looked then at what that actually
means and it referred to the supreme court's
consideration of the issue in the nano neglect school
versus murray daily or marie daley case of 2019
the supreme court held that the issues that could be considered
were number one findings of primary fact where there's no
evidence to support them two findings of primary fact which no
reasonable decision-making body could make three inferences or
conclusions which are unsustainable by reason of any one or more of the
matters listed above or which could not follow or be
deducible from the primary findings as made or which
were based on an incorrect interpretation of documents these are
the issues that the high court can look at
when it's deciding on how a labor court or the labor court conducted itself
but it cannot go into the substantive issue
essentially it is looking at the administrative tribunal and whether
there was a failure of compliance with the statutory duty
of that tribunal the high court noted that it cannot
substitute its judgment for that of the labor court even if it
wanted to the high court can look at the procedures
and processes followed by the labor court in making its findings of fact
and to consider whether its decision is sustainable at law
that's what the high court can do when it's reviewing a
labor court decision and a judicial review
and appeal on a point of law to the high court
so the high court in this case found that
quote the labour court acted in accordance with
the requirements for fair procedures the appellant was present
heard directly the evidence against him and was afforded
an opportunity to challenge it the high court dismissed the appeal
determining that the facts or the findings of fact made by the labor court
were supported by the evidence and provisions of the protected
disclosures act 2014 were correctly interpreted and applied
so if the labor court interprets correctly
the law and comes to reasonable findings of fact
findings of fact that are not perverse or irrational
that are based on the evidence where the labor court hears the evidence of both
parties then the high court cannot interfere and
will not look at the substantive issue so employment dispute employment claim
you go to the labor court you go to the workplace relations commission
you appeal to the labor court you appeal to a high court on a point of law
put on a point of law only so you appeal from the wrc to the labor court
and it's uh hearing de novo that is from scratch
you get to run the case again essentially but when you go to the high
court you're not running the case again you're
looking at any imperfections or infirmities
in the way that the labor court conducted the hearing and you are
bringing your judicial review appeal on a point of law
i hope you find this video useful if you do you might give it the thumbs up down
below and if you want to go into that case
in more detail or find out more about it if you go to my website employment
rights ireland.com you'll see a blog post there from april
19th of 2020 whistleblowers appeal of labour
court to the high court on 10 points of law
dismissed that's where you'll find it and you'll
find the full decision from the high court
it's useful because it's useful to know that if you appeal a decision
what can the high court or what can the labor court at the various stages of
appeal deal with and the high court cannot deal
with the substantive issue only points of law only if the labor
court messed up from the point of view of interpreting or applying the law
hope you find this video useful if you do you might give it a thumbs up down
below and you may be interested in subscribing
to my youtube channel you