Section 6:

6. (1) The Tribunal shall exercise its jurisdiction in any proceedings, except for proceedings relating to a reduction of workforce or closing down of enterprise under the Employment Rights Act, in such manner as to enable the parties to the proceedings to avail themselves of the conciliation and mediation services of the Commission for Conciliation and Mediation, or of other possibilities for conciliation and mediation. E9A – 61 [Issue 5] Employment Relations Act (2) The Tribunal may in relation to any dispute or other matter before it— (a) remit the matter, subject to such conditions as it may determine, to the parties for further consideration by them with a view to settling or limiting the several issues in dispute; (b) dismiss any matter or refrain from further hearing or from determining the matter, if it appears to the Tribunal that the matter is trivial, or that further proceedings are unnecessary, or undesirable in the public interest; (c) hear and determine the matter in the absence of any party who has been duly summoned to appear before the Tribunal and has failed to do so; (d) order any person to be joined as a party to the proceedings who, in the opinion of the Tribunal— (i) may be affected by an order or award; or (ii) ought in the interests of justice to be joined as a party, and to do so on such terms and conditions as the Tribunal may decide; (e) generally give all such directions and make all such orders, whether interim or permanent, conditional or unconditional, and do all such things as are necessary or expedient for the expeditious determination of that matter.