Right of appeal

Parents can appeal any disputes which may rise under the Act on Maternity/Paternity Leave and Parental Leave, No. 95/2000 to Úrskurðarnefnd velferðarmála (The Welfare Appeals Committee), Katrínartúni 2 – 11. Floor, 105 Reykjavík. Phone number: 551 8200. Email address: postur@urvel.is The appeals committee is independent and autonomous in its work.

Procedure of the Welfare Appeals Committee:

• Deadline for appeals: Appeals shall be submitted to the Welfare Appeals Committee in writing within three months of the date when the party to the case is informed of the decision.
• Obligation regarding information; gathering of materials: Vinnumálastofnun (The Directorate of Labour) shall provide the Welfare Appeals Committee with all materials pertaining to its cases, and also all information and explanations it considers necessary for their resolution.
• Procedure: Cases before the appeals committee shall normally be processed in writing. However, the committee may decide to call parties to cases, or their representatives, to meetings.
• If the appeals committee considers that a party’s position and the reasons for it are not clear from the case materials, it shall ensure that he or she has the opportunity to express his or her position on the substance of the case before it delivers its ruling, unless there is obviously no need to do so.
• Other aspects of procedure by the committee shall be subject to the Administrative Procedure Act and provisions of the acts from which the right of appeal to the committee is derived in any given instance.
• The appeals committee shall deliver its ruling as soon as possible, and normally within three months of receipt of the case unless particular circumstances render it difficult to do so, in which case the appellant shall be informed of the reason for the delays and of when a ruling may be expected.
• Rulings by the committee cannot be referred to a higher authority.  Rulings by the committee do not prevent the possibility of a case being presented to a court of law or to Umboðsmaður Alþingis (The Althingi Ombudsman).

Legal effect and enforceability:

• An appeal against an administrative decision does not defer the legal effects of the decision unless other provisions are made in the act on which the decision that is the subject of the appeal is based. Nevertheless, the appeals committee may defer the legal effects of the decision that is the subject of an appeal while the appeal is being processed where there are reasons in favour of doing so. However, an administrative complaint suspends enforcement based on a decision by Vinnumálastofnun (The Directorate of Labour) on recourse of excess payments from the Maternity/Paternity Leave Fund (cf. the sixth paragraph of Article 15 a).
• The rulings of the Appeals Committee on recourses of excess payments under this Act are enforceable.

Welfare Appeals Committee Act,
No. 85/2015

Úrskurðarnefnd velferðarmála/The Welfare Appeals Committee Website