Employment Forum: Appointment of Chairman

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A decision made on 21 October 2011:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2011- 0081
Decision Summary Title :	DS Forum Chairman		Date of Decision Summary:	20 October 2011
Decision Summary Author:	Policy Principal		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	WR Forum Chairman		Date of Written Report:	20 October 2011
Written Report Author:	Policy Principal		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Appoint Employment Forum Chairman
Decision(s): The Minister decided to appoint Mrs Helen Ruelle as the Chairman of the Employment Forum, effective from 1 November 2011.
Reason(s) for Decision: Having acted as Chairman for almost two years, Mr David Robinson decided to retire from the position of Chairman, whilst continuing as a member of the Forum. The Forum proposes that the Minister appoints Mrs Helen Ruelle to the position of Employment Forum Chairman. Mrs Ruelle has served almost two years as an ‘independent’ member of the Forum.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications.
Action required: The Minister to notify Mrs Ruelle of her appointment. It is not necessary to inform the States of the appointment.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Employment Forum: Appointment of Chairman

Employment Forum CHAIRMAN

BACKGROUND

The Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 requires that a Chairman and eight members are appointed by the Social Security Minister. The current membership is as follows;

	Appointment end date
Independent
Carol Le Cocq	31 December 2014
Helen Ruelle	30 November 2012
Malcolm Ferey	17 October 2014

Employer
Jeralie Pallot	31 May 2014
Thomas Quinlan	30 November 2012
Julie Fairclough	17 October 2014

Employee
David Robinson	31 December 2014
Barbara Ward	30 November 2012
Ian Syvret	17 October 2014

The current Chairman, Mr David Robinson, was nominated by the Forum members and agreed to take up the position of Chairman, effective from 1 December 2009. Mr Robinson’s intention was that he would not hold the position of Chairman permanently, but only until a suitable replacement could be chosen from the membership; a number of new members had been recently appointed to the Forum at that time. Having acted as Chairman for almost two years, Mr Robinson considered it an appropriate time to retire from the position of Chairman, but continue as a member of the Forum.

Mrs Helen Ruelle is proposed by the Forum to take on the role of Chairman, effective from 1 November 2011. Mrs Ruelle is an independent member who has served almost two years on the Forum.

Mrs Ruelle is a Managing Associate and Head of the Jersey Employment Law team at Mourant Ozannes, where she has worked since 2001. Mrs Ruelle is a Jersey advocate and an English solicitor (non-practising) and has over ten years' experience of employment law, both in Jersey and the UK. Mrs Ruelle is also co-head of the firm's competition law team as well as advising on data protection, regulation of undertakings and general commercial work (both contentious and non-contentious). Prior to joining Mourant Ozannes, Mrs Ruelle worked as a commercial lawyer in the UK in both private practice and as an in-house lawyer in local government. Mrs Ruelle is also a member of the Employment Lawyers' Association and the Institute of Directors.