Written answers

Tuesday, 13 November 2018

Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection

Employment Rights

Photo of Bríd SmithBríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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90. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the legislative measures she plans to prioritise to deal with bogus self-employment and related denials of workers' rights; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46847/18]

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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104. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of cases received and then investigated following the publicity campaign on false self-employment; if she is satisfied with the outcome to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46882/18]

Photo of Joan CollinsJoan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent)
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109. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection her views on the fact that principal contractors are underbidding for projects by being non-compliant with industry registered employment agreements, REAs, which lead to high rates of bogus self-employment. [46887/18]

Photo of Richard Boyd BarrettRichard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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112. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the measures she is planning to take in order to deal with bogus self-employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46889/18]

Photo of Regina DohertyRegina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 90, 104, 109 and 112 together.

The media campaign on false self-employment carried out by the Department in May 2018 was aimed at ensuring that there is better public awareness of the important service the Department provides in determining employment status and to help develop a better understanding of the scale and nature of false self-employment.

The dedicated web page attracted more than 10,500 visits during the campaign.

Scope section received some 50 calls and 30 emails during the campaign from individuals who had become aware of the service directly as a result of the ad campaign.

15 Scope investigations were created as a direct result of the media campaign.

The types of employment include:

- Couriers and van drivers.

- Home tutors.

- Meter readers.

- Personal finance.

- IT and media.

- Pharmaceuticals.

- Construction.

Three cases have been formally decided with PRSI class S applying in those cases. Two cases were deemed by the inspector to be correctly classed as self-employed and formal decisions did not issue. Nine cases are still under investigation. One individual did not wish to pursue the case.

Given the relatively low number of formal requests for determinations, there may be some reluctance by individuals to seek a Scope determination due to concerns over how an employer will react. This suggests that the most appropriate way to address the issue will be through inspection and that anti-victimisation measures may be required to provide assurance to workers that they cannot be victimised if they raise legitimate concerns regarding their employment status.

Although the response was low the response to the campaign will inform the inspection work of DEASP, Revenue and WRC, including in sectors other than construction. The Department has intensified its employer inspection activity since the campaign. A separate series of investigations took place in the west of the country focussed on the construction sector. Two further projects with a particular emphasis on identifying false self employment are currently planned for the Dublin North and Mid West Divisions.

In considering whether new measures may be required to tackle an issue such as false self-employment account needs to be taken of the available data and evidence as to the prevalence and impact of the issue. It should also be considered if there are existing measures already available in legislation which can be applied to address the issue.

There are already significant legislative powers to investigate and sanction employers and employees who falsely declare their social insurance status as self-employed rather than employed.

On balance the Department's view is that, with the possible exception of anti-victimisation protections, there are already sufficient legislative provisions and powers to enable the State (and in particular the Department) to identify, investigate and enforce, including through criminal prosecutions where necessary, the false declaration of employment as self-employment.

Turning to the related matter of employment rights, there was a commitment in the Programme for Government to address the perceived increase in the casualisation of work and strengthen the regulation of precarious employment. The Employment Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2017, currently going through the Oireachtas, addresses a number of workers’ rights issues, including:

- prohibiting zero hour contracts in most circumstances;

- the requirement that the terms of employments be produced by the employer within five days;

- new minimum payment for employees called in to work but sent home again without work;

- a new right for employees whose contract of employment does not reflect the reality of the hours they habitually work to be placed in a band of hours that better reflects the hours they have worked over a reference period;

- strong anti-penalisation provisions.

With reference to compliance with sectoral or industry employment orders (REAs), these orders are an integral part of the State’s industrial relations machinery and are made under industrial relations legislation. Compliance with such orders comes within the statutory functions of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). Both the WRC and industrial relations legislation and policy are a matter for the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation.

Bogus self-employment is consistently brought up by Deputies as a prevalent issue. If any Deputy is aware of any such cases, I strongly urge them to bring these to my attention so that my Department can investigate.

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