Senator Dr. the Hon. Esther Byer-Suckoo, Minister of Labour, Social Security and Human Resource Development.
From left: Brian Reece, Manager, Health Safety and the Environment (HSE) at the Barbados Light and Power Company Ltd.; Frederick Adamson, Manager, HSE at EMERA Caribbean; and Peter Williams, Managing Director at EMERA, during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) Occupational Health and Safety Seminar, held at the Hilton Resort yesterday.
Labour laws being ignored
Tue, 10/25/2016 - 12:00am
Minister of Labour, Senator Dr. the Hon. Esther Byer-Suckoo, is concerned that there are still some employers ignoring labour laws.
Yesterday, she shared that her Ministry has been receiving reports from workers with matters related to the Employment Rights Act, the Safety and Health at Work Act, including a number of other older and basic legislations, such as the Employment of Women.
“I am not comfortable that companies in Barbados are following all the labour laws. There are a lot of labour laws that are still not being obeyed, if what we hear from workers is anything to go by,” she told members of the media on the side-lines of the opening ceremony of CARILEC 2016 Occupational Health and Safety Seminar, held at Hilton Resort.
The Labour Minister made it clear that these reports will not be ignored. In fact, she revealed that an inspectorate has been put in place to follow up on complaints.
“We are getting reports and we are following up on them. When people call me with their complaints, I tell them make it at the Labour Department so it can be followed through. That is what we are doing and are committed to doing,” she stated.
“However, we have some model entities in the country and I am really pleased with how they are working and expanding their reach; taking part in our conferences and sessions. But, I have heard of a number of entities in different sectors that it’s not happening; they are not complying with legislation,” she stated.
Dr. Byer-Suckoo further indicated that employers not following the Letter of the Law will be penalised.
“We are going to come down hard on them,” she stressed.
“All of these are speaking to penalties. As we renew legislations you will notice that we even put steeper penalties because a penalty in 1950 is not a penalty today.” (TL)