Kristel Tiits
06 Dec 2017
On 1 January 2018, a new Labour Dispute Resolution Act (hereinafter referred to as TVS by its Estonian acronym) will enter into force, supplanting the Individual Labour Dispute Resolution Act (hereinafter ITVS) in force up to 31 December. The new legislation will substantially change the current procedures for resolving labour disputes and the selection of means for resolving disputes will increase (including written procedure, compromise and conciliation procedure).
Outdated principles in the ITVS, which came into force in September 1996 and will, as mentioned, remain in force until the last day of 2017, will be significantly supplemented and amended by the new TVS.
The purpose of this article is to briefly summarize the main differences and new features that should make the process of labour dispute resolution more effective next year.
The new rules will expand the scope of application of the legislation, meaning that on the basis of the TVS, a labour dispute committee will start also resolving collective labour disputes related to the performance of collective agreements. The expanded scope of application means that a single employee or employee representative – such as a trade union trustee – will be able to bring a claim on behalf of all of the employees connected to a collective agreement.
The term for review of a petition will become longer – from 30 to 45 calendar days. The notification term for labour dispute committee decisions will also now be 10 working days instead of the previous five. The terms have been extended because statistics show that more time is required for resolving labour disputes and a longer term for proceedings would ensure better quality of the decisions made by the labour dispute committee.
Under the current ITVS, the labour dispute committee does not process monetary claims above 10,000 euros, but the new TVS lacks such a limit. That means all persons can turn to the labour dispute committee regardless of the size of the claim.
Under the current procedures, the labour dispute committee can only use oral proceedings, but starting in the new year, written proceedings is also an option for resolving labour dispute matters. As an exception, the chairman of the labour dispute committee is allowed to conduct proceedings on his or her own on a monetary claim in written proceedings if the total amount of the claims is 6,400 euros or less. It should be pointed out that if any of the parties does not consent to written proceedings or wishes to testify before the committee in oral form, the matter will be reviewed at a hearing.
A new feature is conciliation proceedings, aimed at reaching an agreement satisfactory to both sides under the guidance of a conciliator. Conciliation procedure is not obligatory before ordinary procedure is followed, and if conciliation is not successful, the parties are entitled to resolution of the dispute by the committee in ordinary proceedings or in court. When conciliation procedure is carried out in the labour dispute committee, the chairman of the labour dispute committee serves as conciliator.
A key change pertains to gathering of evidence. Namely, the new rules empower the chairman of the labour dispute committee, similarly to a court of law, to compel the disputants to present evidence if the evidence is relevant for resolving the matter or if another party to the proceedings (as a rule, the employer) has the obligation to retain documents from the employment relationship.
There will still be no state fee for turning to the labour dispute committee, as this ensures all employees and employers equal opportunity to recur to the committee. However, the parties in the labour dispute should consider that all expenses related to proceedings before the labour dispute committee (such as expenses on representation) must be borne by the parties. If the dispute goes on to court, the parties can demand compensation of expenses related to the labour dispute proceedings, which can then, in judicial proceedings, be considered pre-court procedural expenses.
To sum up, the new legislation will lay the groundwork for more effective extrajudicial resolution of labour disputes as abolishing the limits on monetary claims will ensure that all have the right to turn to the labour dispute committee for the protection of their rights. Among other things, the parties have the right, in addition to ordinary proceedings, more opportunities to resolve the dispute, such as conciliation proceedings or entering into a compromise which is then approved by the labour dispute committee.