Workplace Relations Commission

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2021

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Ceisteanna (170)

Louise O'Reilly

Ceist:

170. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of inspections carried out by the Workplace Relations Commission in each of the years 2015 to 2020 by NACE sector; the number of breaches detected; and the type of breaches detected in tabular form. [14981/21]

Freagraí scríofa

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) is an independent, statutory body under the aegis of my Department, established on 1st October 2015 under the Workplace Relations Act 2015. The WRC’s primary functions include the inspection of employment law compliance, the provision of information on employment law, mediation, adjudication, conciliation, facilitation, and advisory services.

Inspections carried out by WRC Inspectors operate on a compliance model. This means that an inspector will work with the employer to ensure that the employer fulfils all their statutory obligations and that any outstanding wages or entitlements are given to workers.

Table 1 sets out by NACE sector the number of inspections carried out by the WRC in each of the years 2015 to 2020. Table 2 sets out the number and the type of breaches detected in the period 2015 to 2020.

Table 1: Inspection cases concluded 2015-2020 by Sector

Sector	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture	78	47	48	106	71	41
Construction	94	69	75	81	219	150
Contract Cleaning	29	24	18	22	41	48
Domestic Work	48	22	20	5	8	6
Electrical	8	5	6	11	12	18
Equine			54	45	19	13
Fisheries		9	95	40	47	64
Food & Drink	838	717	645	656	1,856	1,641
Hair & Beauty	100	89	79	121	375	466
Health	83	73	78	69	85	132
Hotels & Accommodation	75	89	55	64	188	144
Security	21	17	20	18	17	31
Transport	58	43	61	71	67	87
Education					30	29
Wholesale & Retail	416	295	258	363	1,049	3,941
Sports & Recreation					31
Manufacturing	79	45	38	48	53	222
Professional Services	124	126	124	218		85
Other Sectors	323	283	332	236	215	564
Not specified	2,811	2,877	2,741	3,579	421	4
TOTAL	5,185	4,830	4,747	5,753	4,804	7,686

Note: From January 2019, the WRC has utilised a new inspection case management system which provides richer data in term of sectoral reporting based on NACE sector. Since 2019, the figure for “not specified” NACE sector has decreased greatly, going from 2,811 in 2015 to 421 in 2019 and 4 in 2020.

Table 2: Number of Contraventions detected 2015-2020 by Type

Type	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
National Minimum Wage	269	292	409	503	143	88
Employment Permits	531	404	509	448	362	115
Protection of Young Persons (Employment)	5	11	12	15	157	68
Unauthorised deductions					102	65
Records	1,938	1,502	1,553	1,961	1,153	876
Sunday Compensation		76	199	274	248	142
Annual Leave & Public Holidays		98	321	450	927	520
Employment Agency		10	10	2	2	1
Terms of Employment	1	5	26	57	674	521
Payslips					149	113
Others					267	172
TOTAL	2,744	2,398	3,039	3,710	4,184	2,681

Where an employer fails to comply, the inspector can use a range of statutory enforcement measures. These are:

- Fixed Penalty Notice: An employer may be required to pay a fixed amount in respect of breaches of employment law (e.g., €1,500 in relation to failure to provide payslips)

Compliance Notice: These require employers to take specific action to remedy contraventions over a range of employment law and failure to comply with the notice could result in a prosecution

- Prosecution: Employers can be prosecuted in relation to a range of contraventions, including failure to pay statutory national minimum wage rate, employment of foreign nationals without permission to work and failure to keep employment records as prescribed in law.