How to manage: Supreme Court decision to have significant impact on workplace dispute cases

The recent verdict in Zalewski vs Adjudication Officer is highly likely to ratchet up the complexity and cost of legal proceedings

Employers and employees should familiarise themselves with these significant changes to the adjudication of workplace disputes and, where possible, seek to resolve disputes by mediation. Picture: Getty

The Workplace Relations Act 2015 sought to reform the previously overly complex array of workplace dispute resolution bodies, many of which had become increasingly court-like and formal in their approach. It replaced them with a more accessible, simplified structure, consisting of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) and the Labour Court.

However, the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Zalewski vs Adjudication Officer has impacted a significant portion of this reform and will result in ...