Charter & Useful Links: Read this first.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Just some simple rules for now to make this an environment that people feel comfortable discussing their work problems, and also to protect posters and boards.ie from legal difficulties.

1) No naming of companies

2) No 'unhelpful' comments i.e. be polite!

3) No prescriptive legal advice [feel free to suggest places that people can get help though]

The general charter of "Work and Jobs" also applies to this sub-forum.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

I'll leave this thread opened for a bit to get any feedback you have on how you want the forum to run. then i'll tidy it up at a later stage and lock it.

nesf

My additions to the ruleset:


I cannot underestimate how important being polite to one another is. Spirited disagreements are fine but use common sense and don't start slagging people off for taking the piss at work or whatever.


No legal theorising. I mean it, we've no way to tell who people are on here and really this isn't the place to look for legal answers. If someone says X or Y is illegal I'll expect them to back it up with sources saying exactly that or it will be removed. This is unfortunately necessary due to the crazy laws in this country treating your posts as boards.ie's words as if this was a newspaper and the admins chose to print them (it's not been challenged in the courts yet afaik). This necessitates (unfortunately) bounds on discussions that most of us would prefer not to be there. Don't complain to us about this, our hands are tied essentially.


Most importantly, what you'll get here is answers that come from experience, reading and interest. Don't have unrealistic expectations about getting a quick answer if your question is obscure or about an area that's highly specialist.


Other than that, enjoy helping one another.

Eoin

A couple of useful links:

Citizens Information (Employment Section)

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Barry CPL

Can I suggest:

NERA: National Employment Rights Agency (http://www.employmentrights.ie/)
Tel:(059) 917 8900
Locall:1890 220 100

NRF: National Recruitment Federation (http://www.nrf.ie/) - in particular the agency code of conduct may be of interest.

Entemp: Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment (rights/visa/green card issues for international workers http://www.entemp.ie/)

hobnob101

Purely for those job seekers using recruitment agencies, you will need to read this advice on using recruitment agencies. Job seekers are a vulnerable group and as the economic situation in Ireland declines further we are experiencing a growing number of 'sharp practices' in Ireland. Every job seeker needs to be armed with the knowledge contained in the previous link. Barry gave good advice with the NRF link too. The NRF are a voluntary body set up to establish and maintain standards and codes of practice for the recruitment industry in Ireland. A lot of Recruitment agencies are not members though... so be careful who you give your CV to!

Newfie III

Hi, was listing to Coleman At Large on Newstalk last Tuesday night (31 Jan) and the topic was office politics and how to deal with it. If you want to catch a reply of the show please check out the Newstalk website.

The discussion panel mentioned a couple of resources someone could use if they are experiencing office bullying and I thought I would list them here for anyone who missed the show.

1. The Anti-Bullying Center, Trinity College Dublin: http://www.abc.tcd.ie/

2. If you work within a large organization they may have an equalities officer and you can have an off the record discussion with this person for advice.

3. The Rights Commissioner http://www.lrc.ie/archives.asp for general information.

4. If your confidence has been badly affected by bullying then the panel did suggest counseling as an option. They suggested trying the following website to find a reputable counselor http://www.psychologicalsociety.ie/

Please note that I have not tried any of the resources above just merely passing on information which other people might benefit from.

Thanks
Newfie.

Mrs OBumble

Health and Safety Authority:

http://hsa.ie/

The Health and Safety Authority is the national statutory body with responsibility for enforcing occupational safety and health law, promoting and encouraging accident prevention, and providing information and advice to all companies, organisations and individuals. The Authority is also the national Competent Authority for REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) and other chemicals legislation. The Authority deals with every size of workplace in every economic sector.