The National Employment Rights Authority (NERA) prosecuted 143
employers last year for breaching workers rights and secured
convictions in 32 cases. NERA's Mission Statement is "To
achieve a national culture of employment rights
compliance".
NERA was established on an interim basis by the Government in
February 2007. At a recent Employment Law Conference held by
IBEC, Director of NERA, Mr. Ger Deering advised that
NERA had carried out inspections in respect of 5,000 workplaces
during 2010. He further pointed out that some of the prosecutions
taken last year have not yet been completed, so further convictions
may follow.
Mr. Deering said that they did not adopt a heavy-handed
approach to matters and only pursued prosecutions as a last resort,
where an employer had refused all opportunities to rectify the
alleged breaches. He went on to say that NERA inspectors targeted
issues including incomplete working time records and breaches of
the national minimum wage, premium payments, or employment of
young people.
Mr. Deering noted that whilst 85% of employers were compliant
with legislation on payslips, 15% of employers were not
providing correct payslips to employees indicating gross pay,
deductions, and net take home pay. He voiced concern ain relation
to payslips which failed to record deductions for board and
lodgings, particularly in the hotels and catering sectors.
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