Disputes

The Dispute Resolution Service of the Labour Department of the Velocity Interoperability Network conciliates and determines disputes between the staff of member organisations and their employers. It opens on Monday 14 September 2026. Thirty-one enquiries concerning disputes were received during the transition period and will be taken up in the order received when the Service opens.

The Service deals with disputes concerning the Employment Rights Standard, working time and leave, the payment of wages, dismissal, and detriment suffered for reporting a concern or for membership of a staff association. It does not deal with matters of pay or conditions above the minimum terms that are for agreement between employers and their staff, nor with complaints about the conduct of a member of staff, which are for the employer.

The procedure. A dispute passes through the six stages below. The Service is free of charge to both parties, and neither party needs to be represented, though either may be represented by a staff association or by any other person of their choosing.

1. 1

   Step 1: Raise the matter with your employer in writing

   Set out what you believe has gone wrong and what you want done about it. Keep a copy. The employer has ten working days to reply. Most disputes are settled at this stage, and the Service will not normally accept a referral until it has been completed, unless the dispute concerns dismissal.

2. 2

   Step 2: Refer the dispute to the Service

   If the employer does not reply within ten working days, or the reply does not settle the matter, write to the Department's email address. Give your name, your employer, your workplace and site, what the dispute concerns, what you have already done to resolve it and what you are asking for. Attach your letter to the employer and any reply. A referral concerning dismissal must be made within three months of the dismissal; any other referral within six months of the matter complained of.

3. 3

   Step 3: Acknowledgement and notice to the employer

   The Service acknowledges the referral within three working days, gives it a reference number and sends a copy to the employer, who has ten working days to respond in writing.

4. 4

   Step 4: Conciliation

   A conciliation officer contacts both parties and seeks to help them reach an agreement. Conciliation is conducted by email and, where both parties agree, at a meeting at the site. It is confidential, and nothing said in conciliation may be relied on later unless both parties agree. An agreement reached in conciliation is recorded in writing and is binding.

5. 5

   Step 5: Determination

   If conciliation does not settle the dispute within twenty working days, it passes to a determining officer, who considers the written cases of both parties, may ask for further documents or hold a hearing, and issues a written determination with reasons. A determination is normally issued within sixty working days of referral.

6. 6

   Step 6: Appeal

   Either party may appeal against a determination within fifteen working days on the ground that it was wrong in law or that the procedure was not followed. Appeals are decided within thirty working days by an officer who had no part in the determination. A determination that is not appealed, or is upheld on appeal, must be complied with within fifteen working days.

Time limits. The time limits at each stage are set out below. A referral made outside the time limit is accepted only where the Service is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable to make it in time.

Remedies. Where the Service finds in favour of a member of staff, it may order one or more of the remedies below. Where it finds in favour of the employer, it dismisses the referral and says why. An employer that does not comply with a determination is recorded in the register of inspections and the matter is referred for further action.

Payment of wages owed

Where wages, leave pay or other sums due under the Standard or the contract have not been paid, the employer is ordered to pay them, with the itemised statement the Standard requires.

Declaration

A statement that a term of the contract has no effect because it offers less than the Standard, or that the employer has breached the Standard, and what the position is in consequence.

Reinstatement or re-engagement

Where a dismissal was void, because it was for reporting a concern, for membership of a staff association or on a ground contrary to equal treatment, the member of staff is reinstated in the same post, or re-engaged in a comparable one, with pay for the period since dismissal.

Compensation

Where a dismissal was in breach of the Standard but reinstatement is not practicable, or where a member of staff has suffered a detriment, the employer is ordered to pay compensation reflecting the loss suffered.

Direction to the employer

A direction to issue a written statement of terms, to correct records, to grant leave that was wrongly refused or to cease a practice that breaches the Standard, within a period fixed in the determination.

Referrals and enquiries may be sent to contact@labour.gov.vin. The rights on which a referral may be founded are set out on the Employment Rights and Working Time and Leave pages. A concern about the safety of a workplace, rather than a dispute with an employer, should be reported as described on the Workplace Safety page.