(CNS): The employment minister has said that the Pensions Law needs to be enforced in such a way that the money owed to employees gets into their pension funds rather then trying to prosecute offenders through the courts. A report by Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams revealed a catalogue of problems with private sector pensions, including the theft of employee contributions from employers, and recommended a complete overhaul of the legislation. Rolston Anglin has said that his ministry has been focused for several months now on creating a new system in which employers will be held accountable for the pension contributions they owe through administrative fines and the removal of trade and business licences.
Speaking at a town hall meeting hosted by the premier last week, when asked to comment on the OCC report, Anglin said the problem was a long standing one and not a new issue. However, he said his ministry had been working on a lengthy review of all the laws relating to all employment and, with the help of lawyer Theresa Lewis-Pitcairn, were working on drafting legislation that would change the entire system and ensure all employers violating any employment law would face immediate consequences.
“We are going to ensure that we put in place a regime where pension violators can be dealt with administratively and immediately,” he said. “If we don’t have a law that’s enforceable and that ensures swift action can be taken, we will continue to fight a losing battle.”
The minster added that government needed to look very carefully at the entire matter of the enforcement of workplace laws and he wanted to see a legal regime where employers who were breaking laws could be swiftly held to account and at the same time protect the rights of workers more effectively.
With less than 20 cases out of more than 600 prepared and passed to the legal department, Anglin told CNS that there were clearly major problems with the way that pension violators have been dealt with over the years. Trying to prosecute employers did not help anyone, least of all those employees who were missing money from their pensions, he said.
“The aim of my ministry is to bring violators to account and then get the money back into the pension funds,” Anglin said.
Demonstrating that an employer had violated the pension law was not difficult, he suggested, and once that was established the goal was to get the employer to pay. He said government intended to do that through the threat of fines and sanctions, such as the loss of a trade and business licence, which in turn would prevent employers from obtaining work permits.
He said that giving powers of enforcement directly to inspectors who would in future be dealing with all types of employment law violations would be far more effective than trying to put together legal cases for the courts. Anglin said the employment inspectors would be able to levy fines or instruct the licensing board to withhold businesses licenses unless employers come up with a payment plan to meet their pension obligations.
The OCC report, entitled Penny Pinching Pensions, was made a public document following its tabling in the Legislative Assembly on 10 September. The complaints commissioner told CNS that she was disappointed that the members had not chosen to debate the document in the House but was pleased to hear that government was considering an overhaul of the legislation, as recommended in the report.
Williams said the office was very pleased with the quality and accuracy of the report and, most importantly, it was now a public document which everyone could access and understand the current situation. She said she looked forward to seeing the root and branch change that she recommended in the report as quickly as possible. “I would want to see the entire private pension regime better regulated and properly administered,” she said, adding that even if the government chooses not to follow her recommendations, if the new law worked she would be very happy.
The method, she said, was less important than achieving the goal of preventing employers from stealing their employee’s contributions and ensuring that people’s pensions were saved before it was too late. Despite what happens next, in terms of legislative change, Williams said her office would continue to monitor the situation for compliance with her recommendations.
This was Williams’ first own motion report, which, she said, had been a long process as she and her team were keen to ensure that all reports to come out of the OCC were not just relevant and comprehensive but accurate and well researched.
As a result and given the regular workload of the office, she said it would be several weeks before the team embarks on another own motion. Williams said there were three issues which she felt needed to be addressed and details about which one would take priority would be revealed before the end of the year.
Continue Reading
(CNS): In four weeks of summer camps on Cayman Brac, 111 youngsters on the island honed their skills in basketball, swimming, football and netball. Hosted by the sports department headed on the Brac by Sports Instructor Mitchum Sanford, the camps began with a week of basketball at the high school, starting on 9 August with coaches Daniel Augustine & Redver Ebanks, who were joined by 42 children. The following week swim coach Paula Swaby taught beginners, advanced swimmers and a parent and infant class – a total of 39 swimmers, according to a GIS release. Coaches Ernie “Gillie” Seymour and Roy “Huta” Ebanks trained 30 young football players on the Bluff field 16 to 20 August.
(CNS): Burglars appear to have left a message for the government about the real problem of unemployment during a break-in which took place on Friday evening (17 Septemebr). Owners of the Crewe Sports bar on Eastern Avenue in George Town discovered that, while the burglars had made off with a selection of bottles of booze from their stocks, they had also left a message behind. Written on the wall above the bar was a message saying “Need work help plze” in permanent marker. News 27 reports that the perpetrators also left a note in the bar’s cash register repeating the same message. The police have reportedly taken the note into evidence hoping that it may assist in the enquiry.