Rogue builders face pensions crackdown

HUNDREDS of construction firms are being pursued by the Pensions Board for ripping off employees by not paying pension contributions.

It is estimated as many as half the country's 4,000 construction firms have illegally avoided their pension obligations since the scheme began in the 1960s.

Under law, all building firms must register workers in the Construction Federation Operatives Pension Scheme (CFOPS) and pay pension and sickness contributions.

The company share of the pension contribution is just over €6 a week. For this, employees receive sickness benefits and a €22,000 mortality lump sum, payable to their families in the case of death. However, up to €35 million is pocketed by firms annually, instead of being paid into the scheme.

An internal review carried out two years ago estimated non-compliance with the scheme was running at close to 50%. An Irish Examiner investigation subsequently named and shamed some of the country's largest firms and exposed them for ripping off workers. These included some of the country's leading construction companies with lucrative contracts on major Government infrastructure projects.

Some of the firms named had left families without mortality benefits because deceased workers had not been registered.

Last month, unions staged an angry protest outside the Department of Justice calling for the jailing of company bosses who are ripping off employees by not paying pension contributions.

In addition construction unions are threatening lightning strike action against non-compliant firms in the coming months.

But in a drive towards compliance, the CFOPS has forwarded a list of more than 400 non-compliant companies to the Pensions Board. The board has written to the firms threatening legal action should they refuse to pay up.

Before Christmas, the Pensions Board confirmed specific complaints were being followed up, but declined to confirm the scale.

However, information obtained under the Freedom Of Information Act reveals that, at the behest of the CFOPS, the Pensions Board has written to 436 non-compliant firms setting out their responsibilities under the Pensions Act.

Failure to pay employees' entitlements is punishable by a €1,250 fine and a further fine of €250 a day until a company registers its workers.

The cases being pursued by the Pensions Board are in addition to hundreds more which have been investigated by the policing end of the CFOPS scheme the Construction Industry Monitoring Agency.

Agency boss Brian Daly urged builders and construction workers to come forward if they were being denied their pension rights.

He said more than 800 firms had been forced to join the scheme in the last two years.

More than 4,000 new members were covered and an additional €6m in contributions from firms had been realised, he said.

SIPTU Dublin construction branch president Paul Hansard, welcomed the crackdown. "In almost all sites there would be workers not covered. It's good to know the board is chasing those companies," he said.