'De Novo' Hearing

When an employment rights matter, which has been dealt with at first instance by an Adjudication Officer of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), is appealed to the Labour Court, the matter is heard afresh by the Court, as if it had not been heard at all before. In legal parlance, the Court hearing is known as a 'de novo' hearing, meaning, hearing the case from the beginning or anew.

This means that, save in certain very limited circumstances such as where it is alleged that a witness’s evidence differs to that given by them at first instance, what occurred in the course of the Adjudication Officer hearing, and how that hearing was conducted, is not relevant to the Labour Court’s jurisdiction on appeal.

The Court, when a matter is appealed to it, is charged with making a decision in relation to the complaint of a breach of an employment rights statute. The Court deals with the same complaint that was first submitted to the WRC and heard by an Adjudication Officer at first instance. The Court, therefore, will deal only with the complaint of an employment rights breach and will not be interested in or engage in a review or examination of what happened at an Adjudication Officer hearing.

The findings of the Adjudication Officer at first instance are therefore not relevant to the Labour Court, and the Court will not be influenced or guided by them. The Court must deal with the matter afresh and reach its own findings and conclusions based on the case put forward by the parties during the appeal.

In practice, this means that where, for example, an Adjudication Officer had upheld a worker’s complaint of an employment rights breach and had awarded compensation, the Labour Court is free to reach a contrary finding based on its assessment of the case put before it, and set aside the compensation award. Similarly, the Court may uphold the worker's complaint but decide on a different level of compensation, including nil compensation.

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