On 7th December 2017, I published the Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2017. The Bill delivers on the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to tackle the problems caused by the increased casualisation of work and to strengthen the regulation of precarious work. This is a very important piece of legislation which will improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and those working variable hours in all sectors of employment.
It provides for five key issues which will benefit all employees, particularly those in less secure employment arrangements:
- Ensuring that employees are better informed about the nature of their employment arrangements and, in particular, their core terms at an early stage of their employment.
- Strengthening the provisions around minimum payments to low-paid, vulnerable employees who may be called in to work for a period but not provided with that work.
- Prohibiting zero hours contracts in most circumstances.
- Ensuring that workers on low hour contracts, who consistently work more hours each week than provided for in their contracts of employment, are entitled to be placed in a band of hours that better reflects the reality of the hours they have worked over an extended period.
- Strengthening the anti-penalisation provisions for employees who try to invoke a right under this Bill.
The Bill completed Report and Final Stage in the Dáil on 12th July 2018. However, I am concerned that the Bill as amended at Report Stage in the Dáil includes provisions which have the potential to significantly delay the progress of the Bill. This is because one amendment in particular, which could have far reaching implications for a broad range of stakeholders, needs to be subject to a thorough scrutiny and consultation process.
Under the Social Welfare Consolidation Act, there are specific offences in relation to employment contributions, their remittance and the maintenance of prescribed wages and employment records. This includes bogus self-employment where employers seek to wilfully evade income tax and social insurance liabilities. On conviction fines and or imprisonment can ultimately be imposed.
Regarding Defined Benefit pensions, Second Stage of the Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Bill 2017 concluded on 4th October 2017. Government approval to draft provisions for a number of additional items to be included in the Bill at Committee Stage was subsequently obtained and these included measures to respond to the ongoing difficulties in Defined Benefit schemes. These measures are designed to improve protections for scheme members and ensure that schemes in difficulty will be closely monitored and will be managed to improve their funding position. These provisions are technical and involve complex policy issues. When these issues have been resolved and amendments approved by Government, an early date will be requested for Committee Stage.
Finally, the right to join an employee representative body and have it recognised by employers is an industrial relations matter. Policy responsibility for industrial relations matters remains with my colleague the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation.
