Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 331

Application for adjudication by social welfare tribunal

Section 331 allows a person who has been disqualified from jobseeker's payments because of a work stoppage or trade dispute to appeal to the Social Welfare Tribunal.

• Where a work stoppage or trade dispute has occurred and a deciding officer or appeals officer has ruled that a person is disqualified from receiving jobseeker's benefit, jobseeker's allowance or jobseeker's pay-related benefit, that person may apply to the Social Welfare Tribunal for a fresh adjudication.
• The disqualification may have been made under section 68(1) (jobseeker's benefit), section 147(2) (jobseeker's allowance) or section 68KI(1) (jobseeker's pay-related benefit).
• The right to apply to the Tribunal exists regardless of any other provision in the Act — it is an additional avenue of redress.
• The 2024 amendment extended this provision to cover the newer jobseeker's pay-related benefit, ensuring equal access to the Tribunal for persons disqualified from that payment in a trade dispute context.