Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 14:

In page 28, after line 37, to insert the following:

“Liability of a company officer or officers for a breach of employment law

29. Where a breach of employment law is committed by a body corporate or by a company officer or officers acting on behalf of a body corporate and is determined to have been so committed, with the consent, connivance or approval of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, a person or persons who, when the breach was committed was a company officer or officers of the body corporate, then that person or persons shall be personally liable for the breach committed.”.

This is a massively important issue upon which I cannot focus enough. In my experience of working with employees and workers for a number of years, one major trick used by unscrupulous employers to impoverish workers or to hammer their rights is the use of company law to separate the company that has the assets from the company that employs the employees. For example, I know of local authorities that hold tendering processes whereby one company applies for the contract to the tendering process, that is, the company with the assets, while the other company employs the individuals. Thereafter, company B that employs the individuals goes to the Labour Relations Commission seeking a reduction in wages because its financial health seemingly is not good enough to provide the employees with the wage rates with which they were employed but yet the company with the assets is the company holding the tender. This is evident in respect of Connolly's Shoes and many companies that have gone into liquidation or insolvency, albeit not formal insolvency, and which have withheld assets from staff members who have not had redundancy payments, holiday money or even their normal wages paid to them. Members need to pierce this corporate veil, this paper wall, which makes a mockery of employment law. I sincerely ask the Minister of State to take on board this amendment.

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