The Irish Hotels Federation is delighted to announce that our new Members Benefit Employment Legal Support Scheme will be going live on 11th April 2013.
Under this new scheme and in addition to our normal employment and HR advice, IHF members will be provided with free legal support to cover the cost of Employment Disputes and Compensation Awards and in particular for cases that come before a Rights Commissioner, the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT), the Equality Authority or the Labour Court.
The scheme will also provide members with a legal defence when their hotel is prosecuted by NERA, the Health & Safety Authority, Garda/DPP Prosecutions or certain Civil Prosecutions. The scheme will cover legal costs such as solicitors’ fees, barrister’s fees, expert witness’ fees, accountant’s fees, court costs or opponent’s costs. Terms and conditions will apply and these will be made available to all those who register for the scheme.
N.B. This scheme does not cover direct claims that would normally be covered by Employers or Public Liability Insurance. It is important that you continue to hold appropriate cover separately for such risks.
How does the scheme work?
If you have a potential Employment Dispute or an employment query where legal advice is necessary, you should call Nuala at the IHF. Nuala will register the potential dispute and provide you with the necessary contact details for the legal support team and a reference number. The legal team will in turn give you advice on the issue and if necessary commence a legal support claim process.
Helplines
During office hours: During normal office hours please call HR Support at the IHF tel: (01) 497 6459. Nuala will provide you with a legal support contact number when appropriate. N.B. The legal team will not accept calls without an IHF Referral.
Out of hours support: The scheme also provides an out of hours helpline which could be used if, for example an incident occurred at night time in your hotel and the manager or night porter on duty needed immediate legal advice on the issue. The advice given in such cases will typically be sufficient to contain the situation until the next normal office hours helpline becomes available.
Counselling support: A counselling helpline will also be available. This number can be referred to any of your employees who may have alerted you to an issue of a personal nature and you feel they could benefit from counselling. The service is completely confidential and is the only helpline not recorded.
Registration
This scheme is free to members but in order to avail of the benefits you must register for the scheme by filling out the registration form. Please note that the scheme is only available to fully paid-up members of the IHF.
If you have any queries please contact Nuala McLoughlin at mcloughlin@ihf.ieor phone the office on (01) 497 6459.
Kind regards,
Tim Fenn
Chief Executive