David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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438. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of inspectors employed at the Workplace Relations Commission. [8695/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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440. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if WRC inspectors are carrying out on-site inspections during this time. [8697/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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441. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of on-site inspections which have been carried out by the WRC since the Covid-19 restrictions were put in place. [8698/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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442. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of WRC inspections that took place remotely since the Covid-19 restrictions were put in place. [8699/20]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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443. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the current policy of the WRC regarding carrying out inspections either on-site or remotely [8700/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 438 and 440 to 443, inclusive, together.

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 core services include the inspection of employment rights compliance, the provision of information, adjudicating on complaints under employment protection, equality and industrial relations legislation and the provision of mediation, conciliation, facilitation and advisory services.

The Inspectorate Division of the WRC carries out inspections of employer records with a view to determining compliance with employment rights legislations. These inspections arise:

- In response to complaints received of alleged non-compliance with relevant employment rights legislation;

- As part of compliance campaigns which focus on compliance in specific sectors or specific pieces of legislation; or

- From routine inspections (announced and unannounced) which act as an overall control measure.

The WRC Inspectorate is staffed by civil servants of my department. As at 26 May 2020, there are a total of 51 WRC Labour Inspectors. Table 1 attached provides details of the grade, number and regional location of the inspectors. My department is currently running an internal competition for appointment to the post of Executive Officer (EO) Inspector and Higher Executive Officer (HEO) Inspector Team Manager. It is also actively engaging with the Public Appointments Service (PAS) in relation to the filling of EO Inspector posts and HEO Inspector Team Manager posts.

The aim of the WRC Inspectorate is to achieve voluntary compliance with employment law through the provision of education and awareness, inspection of employers’ employment records and enforcement where necessary. While every effort is made to secure compliance, some employers either refuse or fail to rectify the breaches identified and/or pay money due to their employees. These cases are referred for prosecution.

In line with HSE and Government advice regarding non-essential services, on-site inspection activity by WRC inspectors was suspended with effect from 13 March 2020. In this regard, the majority of businesses and sectors within which much WRC risk-based inspection activity takes place closed at this time, and, in the main, remain closed until 8 June 2020. Notwithstanding, inspections have continued, and some have been finalised, remotely by way of desk top enquiries, interviews with employers and employees over the telephone and through the examination of company records (such as payroll and hours worked) following their secure upload to the WRC inspection platform.

Currently, the WRC Inspectorate has 1,335 open inspections being processed by 51 Inspectors. To date this year, 1,640 inspections have been finalised, and c.€1,084,162 in unpaid wages recovered. In addition, the WRC Infoline (1890 80 80 90) has been operating remotely throughout the pandemic and is handling over 1,100 callers per week from both employees and employers, providing information on employment law obligations and employee entitlements.

The WRC is in the process of finalising procedures for the recommencement of on-site visits and inspections and it is anticipated that a number of appropriate such engagements will have taken place before the commencement of the next phase of the Roadmap on 8 June at which stage the number of workplaces open and available for risk-based inspection will have increased. In this regard, the WRC has engaged also with the key stakeholders on the employer and employee representative sides.

Workplace inspections regarding compliance with the Return to Work Safely Protocol are the remit of the HSA and the WRC is actively engaging with that body to identify how best the WRC can assist the HSA in terms of its role.

Number of WRC Inspectors as at 26 May 2020:

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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439. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of WRC inspectors that will be assigned to the Health and Safety Authority to help enforce the back to work protocols and or assist in related matters. [8696/20]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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472. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she is satisfied that the HSA is adequately staffed; if the HSA has made a request for additional staff; the number of staff taken on by the HSA as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9231/20]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 439 and 472 together.

The national Return to Work Safely Protocolis designed to support employers and workers to put measures in place that will prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace. The Protocol should be used by all workplaces to adapt their workplace procedures and practices to comply fully with the COVID-19 related public health protection measures identified as necessary by the HSE and the Department of Health. It is operating in parallel with existing workplace health and safety statutory requirements.

The Health and Safety Authority is the lead Agency in relation to oversight and compliance with the Protocol. In line with Phase 1 of the Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, the Health and Safety Authority launched a national programme of inspections to check compliance with the Return to Work Safely Protocol. Authority inspectors were on the ground from that date enforcing compliance with the Protocol.As of close of business on the 29th of May at the end of week 2 of phase 1 of the Roadmap, and since 18 May 2020 when the economy began to slowly reopen, approximately 1000 inspections were completed across a range of industries. The Authority, based on its initial analysis of the inspections, found that compliance with the Return to Work Safely Protocol is high and employers are generally taking a responsible and proactive approach.

The HSA, along with its usual workload, is deploying all of its available field inspectors across businesses that are currently open to check compliance with the Protocol. Given the scale of the challenge as the economy re-opens, the Government is ensuring that the HSA inspectorate will be supplemented significantly by deploying, under the authority of the HSA, other inspectors from across the system who already have an environmental health, agriculture or other workplace/business inspection responsibilities.

Details of these additional resource are nearing finalisation, and the numbers working with the HSA will be in the hundreds, from across the system. These will be specialist officials who already have sectoral business inspection responsibilities. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has given a commitment that inspectors from his Department will work with the HSA to ensure the implementation of the Protocol in workplaces. It will start shortly with around 200 officials from the Environmental Health Service, and this number will increase steadily as officials from other parts of the system, with varying sectoral inspection and oversight responsibilities are brought on board, in line with the Government Roadmap. This will include inspectors from the WRC