Employment Forum: Appointment of Members

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A decision made 16 October 2015:

Decision Reference: MD-S-2015-0082
Decision Summary Title :	DS Employment Forum member re-appointments		Date of Decision Summary:	16 October 2015
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 Employment Forum member re-appointments		Date of Written Report:	16 October 2015
Written Report Author:	Policy Principal		Written Report: Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Employment Forum – re-appointment of three members
Decision(s): The Minister decided to re-appoint three of the existing members of the Employment Forum, each for a four year term.
Reason(s) for Decision: Schedule 2 to the Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 requires that members of the Employment Forum must be appointed by the Minister for Social Security. In accordance with best practice, members generally hold office for a maximum of 10 years. The terms of three members, listed below, are due to come to an end on 30 November 2015 and having served 6 years to date, each has requested a further four year term. Helen Ruelle – Chairman Barbara Ward – employee member Thomas Quinlan – employer member
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower implications.
Action required: Policy Principal to advise the three members that they have been re-appointed. The Employment Law does not require that the States is notified.
Signature:		Position: Minister
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Employment Forum: Appointment of Members

Employment Forum Member – RE-APPOINTMENT

Background

The Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 (the ‘Employment Law’) provides that the Employment Forum (the ‘Forum’) consists of eight members and a Chairman who are appointed by the Minister for Social Security (the ‘Minister’). Members are appointed having regard to the desirability of securing an appropriate balance between members with experience as employers, members with experience as employees and members with other relevant experience.

Although the Employment Law does not set a maximum term of office for a Forum member, the Forum has proposed that, in accordance with best practice, terms of office should be limited to a total of 10 years, other than in exceptional circumstances. It is vital to provide a balance between introducing new perspectives and skills, as well as providing some continuity amongst the membership with the retention of knowledge and experience.

The current members and their terms of office are as follows:

	Term of office end date	Proposed end date
Independent
Helen Ruelle	30 November 2015	30 November 2019
Malcolm Ferey	17 October 2017
Gary Jones	30 April 2017

Employer
Jeralie Pallot	31 May 2017
Thomas Quinlan	30 November 2015	30 November 2019
Julie Fairclough	17 October 2017

Employee
David Robinson	31 December 2015
Barbara Ward	30 November 2015	30 November 2019
Gary Du Heaume	31 July 2017

Recommendation

It is recommended that the Minister re-appoints the following three members of the Forum;

Helen Ruelle has served six years on the Forum and it is recommended that she be re-appointed as Chairman for a further four years.

Helen Ruelle has been a member of the Forum since November 2009 and Chairman since November 2011. Helen is a Partner and Head of the Jersey Employment Law team at Mourant Ozannes, where she has worked since 2001. Helen is a Jersey advocate and an English solicitor (non-practising) and has over fifteen years' experience of employment law, both in Jersey and the UK. Helen is head of the firm's competition law team as well as advising on mergers and acquisitions, data protection, control of housing and work law matters and general commercial work (both contentious and non-contentious). Prior to joining Mourant Ozannes, Helen worked as a commercial lawyer in the UK in both private practice and as an in-house lawyer in local government. Helen is a member of the Employment Lawyers' Association and the Institute of Directors and she was recently appointed as the Chairman of the Jersey Community Relations Trust.

Barbara Ward has served six years on the Forum and it is recommended that she be re-appointed as an employee member for a further four years.

Barbara Ward is a co-opted member and representative for the Jersey Civil Service Association on pension matters and is also a trustee of the States’ Public Employees Contributory Retirement Scheme. Barbara’s previous experience includes 23 years of lead trade union roles for the Royal College of Nursing, including Lead Negotiator, Chairman, Secretary, Convenor and Lead Steward. Barbara is currently employed as a part-time Staff Nurse for the States’ Health and Social Services Department and also works as Casual Duty Manger for the Jersey Opera House.

Thomas Quinlan has served six years on the Forum and it is recommended that he be re-appointed as an employer member for a further four years.

Thomas Quinlan is the Human Resources Director for the Hotel de France, with responsibility for all recruitment, selection, training, development, human resources strategy and payroll within the hotel. Thomas has more than 20 years’ experience working in the hospitality industry, both in Jersey and a number of award winning hotels in the United Kingdom, including roles managing hotel food and beverage operations, restaurants, bars and large conference and banqueting events. Thomas holds an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) Level 5 qualification in Jersey Employment Law.