The Labor Inspectorate (Tööinspekstioon) has eight chairs of labor dispute committees — the same number it has had for at least a decade — and 2,593 disputes have been filed in the first 10 months of this year, against 1,516 in the same period of 2022.

That works out at 324 applications per chair, according to Kairi Saarep, director general at the inspectorate. "In our assessment, 300 applications is the absolute maximum that one chair can resolve over an entire year," she said. The authority is seeking funding for one additional chair.

Estonian law requires labor disputes to be resolved within 45 calendar days. Saarep said there is a risk that if the committees cannot meet that deadline, the main purpose of the procedure — to offer a quick and simple alternative to court proceedings — will fade away.

"We have certainly had eight chairs for at least 10 years," Saarep said. "If we look at 2022, for example, there were 1,516 disputes in the first 10 months, while this year there have been 2,593 over the same period, nearly 1,000 more. This upward trend has continued for at least the past five years, and eight chairs simply cannot physically handle all these cases."

Saarep noted there are several reasons for the increase in both the number and complexity of applications. Redundancy disputes have grown as the economic situation has become uncertain. Disputes involving third-country (non-EU/EEA) nationals account for nearly a quarter of all cases.

Every year the number of disputes involving third-country nationals rises slightly, and these are often complicated cases. "An employee has worked for a couple of months, the employer has failed to pay their wages, and then a claim for unpaid wages arises," Saarep said. "Naturally, there are problems with providing evidence, and they may struggle with that, but the number of such cases is increasing."

Furthermore, the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) has been placing an increasing burden on the system. "A fairly large factor that is increasing not only the number of applications but also their length is AI — we are simply drowning in applications," Saarep said.

A typical application fits on a couple of pages. Documents prepared using AI tend to be far longer than the norm. "A normal application involving a couple of claims could fit on one or two A4 pages, but in reality, we are seeing applications that are 50, 60, 70, 80 or even 100 pages long, sometimes more than 100 pages. All that material physically has to be read before the hearing," Saarep said.

Saarep also believes awareness has grown. "Generally, people receive compensation when they are made redundant, and most do not want to dispute the decision. But because the economic situation is uncertain, an employee feels they have been treated unfairly and knows they can challenge the decision, so they do," she said.

Although employees often use AI or hire lawyers out of fear of their employers, Saarep emphasized that the system is designed so that ordinary people can manage the process themselves. "I would say that 90 percent of disputes do not require a lawyer, although that does not mean employees do not hire one," she said, adding that in simpler unpaid wage claims it is often enough to fill out a form on the inspectorate's website and attach a bank statement.

A labor dispute committee consisting of a chair and a secretary can resolve 200 to 300 disputes a year, Saarep said, meaning one additional employee would largely cover the shortfall.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry Liina Vahtras (Reform) is set to visit the Labor Inspectorate on Monday to discuss the situation and possible solutions. "The minister is broadly aware that the chairs of labor dispute committees have a heavy workload. On Monday, we will discuss possible solutions — whether that means one additional chair or whether there are other options on the table," Saarep said.

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