Launch of NERA's First National Awareness Campaign – Jan '08
The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) launched its first National Awareness Campaign on Thursday 10th January 2008. NERA was established under the National Partnership Agreement "Towards 2016" in 2007 to support the achievement of a culture of employment rights compliance among employers throughout Ireland. The launch of NERA's information campaign is the latest phase in the establishment of this significant National Authority with responsibility for the enforcement of employment rights. Interested parties will notice that NERA will be more visible, more vocal and more proactive from now on.
NERA's Information Services provide information on employment rights legislation to employees and employers by telephone, in writing, by email and through public awareness programmes. The Information Service's telephone line dealt with 93,000 calls, 5,800 email contacts and 990 personal callers throughout 2007.
NERA also has responsibility for carrying out inspections and investigations into suspected breaches of employment legislation. Where employers are found to be non-compliant, Inspectors will seek to have those breaches rectified and require payment of arrears due to employees where applicable. If necessary, NERA will have recourse to legal proceedings to enforce compliance and recover any arrears. During 2007, Inspectors carried out in excess of 14,000 inspections and secured almost €2.5million in arrears for employees. The €2.5million represents a notable increase of €1.1million on the arrears collected in 2006. These inspections included targeted campaigns focusing on the Construction Sector, the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000, and the Protection of Young Persons (Employment) Act, 1996.
As of 21st January 2008, NERA will have put in place 82 Inspectors. There will be a further eight Inspectors appointed in the near future who will have fluency in a range of Eastern European Languages.
Another development of interest to employers is the introduction of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act, 2007, which provided for the sharing of employment data between the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Social and Family Affairs, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. This Act allows for the formation of Joint Investigation Units to investigate breaches under the relevant legislation.
Minister Billy Kelleher confirmed that the Employment Law Compliance Bill will be published in the coming weeks which will include the following provisions:
- Establish NERA on a Statutory footing, formally appointing the Director of NERA, Mr. Ger Deering;
- Strengthen inspection and enforcement powers in the area of employment law compliance;
- Specify the employment records which employers are legally obliged to keep for all employees and institute higher penalties for failure to keep such records and for other breaches of legislation;
- Provide for exchanges of information between relevant Government Departments to facilitate Joint Investigations of employers suspected of non-compliance with legislation;
- To increase the powers of the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to initiate investigations and to publish the outcomes in cases of public interest.