We believe that the EWC directive, and national laws implementing it in the member states, give valuable and powerful rights to employees and their representatives who sit on European Works Councils. However, these rights often go unfulfilled because management try to avoid their legal responsibilities to inform and consult their European Works Council, and employee representatives often feel powerless to do anything about it.
EWC Legal Advisers exist to support European Works Councils in obtaining your legal rights. We will help you understand what your rights are, what management should be doing with regard to negotiating an EWC agreement, or informing and consulting you, and how you can make sure they do what the law requires. We know that it is not easy to understand complex legislation, and to work out how it applies to your situation. And we know it can be daunting trying to get management to comply with their legal responsibilities, especially if that involves taking legal action against them. We take on that role for you. The EWC directive gives European Works Councils a right to experts of their choice, whose expenses must be paid by management.
Initial assessment
If you are considering taking legal action, we will carry out a free initial assessment of your case. We will look at your EWC agreement – if one exists – to see what it says about management’s obligations, your rights, the governing law and enforceability. Based on what you tell us about what management have or haven’t done to comply with their obligations, we will advise you whether we believe you have a valid complaint that could be pursued via the legal process in the UK or Ireland. Please contact us if you would like advice.
Preparation of your case
If you decide you wish to go ahead, once you have appointed us as your expert, we will prepare your case setting out the legal obligations on management, and describing how we believe they have failed to comply with their obligations. We will advise you on the best strategy to pursue – whether to bring a formal complaint under the UK or Irish legislation immediately (bearing in mind there may be a legal deadline for doing so), or whether to first put management on notice of your intentions and hold back with the formal complaint for the time being.
Submitting a formal complaint
In the UK a formal complaint of legal non-compliance will usually be made to the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC). In Ireland, a dispute may be referred to an independent arbitrator, or a complaint may be made to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). If you decide you wish to go ahead with legal action, we can submit the application on your behalf, and liaise with the relevant authority, keeping you informed of progress throughout. We can deal with requests from the authority for further information, documentation or submissions, and respond to any submissions made by the company, again liaising closely with you at all times. If appropriate, we can advise you on whether to seek an order against the company if it is found to be in breach of the law, and if so, what the order should say.
Attending hearings and meetings
We can accompany you and represent you at any hearings or meetings with the Central Arbitration Committee, or the Workplace Relations Commission, or an independent arbitrator, as appropriate. We can present your case on your behalf, and deal with questions that are raised. We can also accompany you to any meetings with management to support you in making your case, if agreed.
Application for a penalty
In the UK, if the Central Arbitration Committee upholds your complaint, you are entitled to apply to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) for a penalty to be imposed on the company. If you wish to do this, we can make the application for a penalty on your behalf.