Development of NERA

As we launch NERA’s first information campaign, it is worth reflecting on just how far we have come in a relatively short space of time in relation to inspection and enforcement of employment rights. As Minister Martin mentioned, NERA was established on an interim basis during 2007 with the overall objective of securing increased public confidence in the system of compliance with employment rights legislation. Substantial progress has been made during 2007.

Three units dealing with employment rights, which were formerly part of my area within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, have been subsumed into NERA

• The Employment Rights Information Unit

• The Labour Inspectorate

• The Prosecution and Enforcement Unit

These Units have successfully migrated to the new Authority bringing many years of experience and corporate knowledge as they did so. This is a good practical example of managing change in the Public Service and I want to acknowledge the role of all concerned – staff and management alike in ensuring a smooth transition.

Staffing

A major recruitment process was undertaken to supplement this expertise and provide NERA with the necessary resources to achieve its objective of securing compliance in terms of employment rights. The management team is fully in place and includes the Director, two Principal Officers, four Assistant Principals, Head of Legal Affairs and an Accountant.

The full complement of staff is now in place in the Carlow Head Office including staff of the Information Services Section. An additional 45 Inspectors were appointed in 2007 and six more will be appointed on the 21^st of January 2008 bringing the number of inspectors to 82. They will be joined in the coming weeks by the last eight inspectors who will be proficient in a range of Eastern European Languages bringing the total number of inspectors to 90. Intensive and detailed training is provided to all new staff to support them in their role.

Information services

Today’s launch of their information campaign marks a new phase in NERA’s development. The Authority will be, from now on, more visible, more vocal and more proactive. NERA Information Services provide impartial information on a wide variety of employment rights legislation to employees and employers by telephone, in writing, by email and through ongoing public awareness programmes. These include presentations at a range of seminars and events and stands at various public events.

NERA’s information services dealt with almost 100,000 contacts in 2007. This included the information telephone line which dealt with 93,000 calls throughout 2007. Staff also dealt with 5,800 email contacts and 990 personal callers. These numbers may well increase in 2008 as NERA’s profile increases. However, over time, it might be expected that as the message gets through about employment rights and as workers become more assertive and proactive in pursuing entitlements, direct personal contact with NERA might level off. It will be interesting to track these trends but in any event, NERA is geared to respond, will remain flexible in its deployment of resources and is committed to getting its message across.

Inspection / enforcement

At all times, NERA will back up its communications and information campaigns with strong powers of inspection, and, if necessary, prosecution and enforcement. NERA’s inspectors already undertake a variety of inspections of workplaces throughout the country. Where breaches of employment rights legislation are detected, the inspection services seek the rectification of those breaches and the payment of arrears due to employees arising from the breaches. Where necessary, NERA will have recourse to legal proceedings to rectify breaches and recover any arrears due.

During 2007 NERA inspectors carried out over 14,000 inspections/visits/calls and – as the Minister mentioned – they secured almost €2.5M in arrears for employees. These included three targeted inspection campaigns focusing on the Construction Sector, the National Minimum Wage Act and the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act. These are important categories because of the potential vulnerability of employees.

It is important to note that inspections are indeed more targeted and focused. This is evidenced by the dramatic increase of €1.1m in the arrears collected for employees in 2007 and the higher breach detection rate of 2,344 in 2007 compared to 2,108 in 2006. This was achieved while simultaneously undertaking major reorganisation, decentralisation to Carlow and the training of new and existing inspectors.

The Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007 provides for the sharing of relevant employment data between the Offices of the Revenue Commissioners, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment. This legislation enables NERA’s inspection services to join with inspectors from the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Revenue Commissioners to form Joint Investigation Units and exchange information. This facilitates NERA’s inspection, prosecution and enforcement activity and has already proved beneficial in a number of specific cases in which the Authority was involved during 2007. Again, this is a good practical example of “joined up government” and I am delighted that NERA and my Department are playing their part in this regard.

Employment Law Compliance Bill

I wish now to say a few words about the Employment Law Compliance Bill.

This Bill is being drafted to secure better compliance with “employment law”, in accordance with the provisions of Towards 2016 and to secure better compliance with the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006. The Bill, which is lengthy and complex, is on the Government’s priority list of legislation for the coming session of the Dáil and will be published in the coming weeks. It is likely to run to about 100 pages of text and the number of enactments to be amended as a result of its provisions will be in excess of 30.

The main provisions of this Bill will be:

• to place NERA on a statutory footing by appointing the Director of the National Employment Rights Authority (within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment), dedicated to employment rights compliance, and with a tripartite Advisory Board;

• to strengthen inspection and enforcement powers and make other necessary provisions to secure compliance with employment law generally and the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006 (including provision for compensation of up to 2 years’ pay and protection of bona fide complainants against victimisation) in line with “state-of-the-art” provisions in Revenue, Social Welfare, Consumer Protection, etc., legislation;

• to specify the statutory employment records to be kept by employers for all employees and the high penalties for failure to do so or for other breaches of employment law;

• to foster increased co-operation at workplace level so as to safeguard employment rights;

• to support current monitoring and inspection activity in relation to compliance with the Registered Employment Agreement in the electrical contracting sector;

• to provide for exchanges of information between statutory enforcement authorities so as to facilitate Joint Investigations of employment suspected of contravening the law;

• to strengthen the powers of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to initiate investigations and publish the outcomes in cases of public interest.

As well as giving effect to provisions of Sections 11 to 16 of Towards 2016, the Bill will also provide for the involvement of the Director of the National Employment Rights Authority and authorised officers of the Director in enforcement of provisions of the Employment Permits Acts 2003 and 2006. This will involve “labour inspectors” for the first time in such work and it is an important development.

Awareness of employment rights

With a constantly evolving employee demographic in Ireland, it is ever more important that the rights of the individual are protected. The establishment of NERA reflects this. While the inspection, prosecution and enforcement services are there to seek out and deal with those employers who disregard their obligations under the law, today’s event is the aspect of NERA’s work which seeks to inform. This is an equally valuable and valid aspect of NERA’s role.

NERA is there to act as a source of information for both workers and employers on all aspects of employment rights. One of NERA’s most important tools in this regard will be its new website WWW.EMPLOYMENTRIGHTS.IE which is going live in conjunction with this awareness launch today. Ger Deering can perhaps say a bit more about this and the complementary suite of information material that has been developed to provide up to date accessible multilingual information on employment rights.

Conclusion

This year will be an important one for NERA. They will shortly be placed on a full statutory basis. They have a full staff complement and are already in a new headquarters. They will be extending their reach and, from today, building a strong public profile. It is an exciting time for NERA and I wish them well as they make an enhanced contribution to the quality of our workplaces, which remains a key economic and social priority of this Government.

ENDS/LA264