Rights agency found 5,000 breaches of labour law last year

EMPLOYMENT inspectors uncovered almost 5,000 breaches of labour law last year and returned over €3 million in wages owed to workers, according to the National Employment Rights Authority.

Widespread non-compliance with employment law is revealed in the authority’s annual review, which was published yesterday. Breaches were detected in 85 per cent of contract cleaning firms inspected, 78 per cent of hotels, 64 per cent of retail outlets and 62 per cent of construction firms.

One in 10 employers was found to be paying less than the minimum wage and almost half were breaching working time legislation.

Minister of State for Labour Affairs Billy Kelleher said employment rights could not be neglected or watered down because of the pressures on the economy. Any diminution of rights harmed workers and gave an unfair advantage to unscrupulous employers, he said.

Employment inspectors are to take on a new role checking on work permits of migrant workers, in consultation with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, according to Ger Deering,the agency’s director. Greater co-operation with other inspection agencies is also envisaged.

Mr Deering said it wasn’t acceptable for employers to take advantage of their employees by not paying the legal amount of pay, regardless of the economic climate.

He highlighted an array of illegal practices uncovered by inspectors, including the failure by employers to keep or produce records, the falsification of records, unlawful deductions, underpayment and forcing staff to work longer than legal limits.

The authority doesn’t break down figures between nationalities, but Mr Deering said the perception that only migrant workers suffered from abuse of their employment rights was incorrect.

The agency employs inspectors fluent in Polish, Slovak, Czech, Russian and other languages and publishes information in 12 languages.

Offending companies are not named, unless there are prosecutions, of which there were 70 last year.

Mr Deering said some companies were repeat offenders.