‘Legislation governing ERT needs updating’

Newly appointed Government Senator Gregory Nicholls says the island’s Employment Rights Tribunal (ERT) lacks the resources and legislative teeth to carry out its duties effectively and has called for the law governing the body to be updated.

Speaking during debate on the Appropriation Bill 2022 in the Upper House on Monday after being sworn in as a Senator, the attorney-at-law said the COVID-19 pandemic had uncovered arbitrary and improper actions by some business owners and the ERT was not in a position to do anything about it.

“You get the feeling that employers have taken advantage of the pandemic. Businesses have shed workers at an alarming rate and as economic activity has returned to the country, the employment is not coming back at the same rate in which it went.

“I believe that the pandemic has shown that the resources that we allocate to the Employment Rights Tribunal are not as adequate as they should be. This is not to say that there is a deliberate plan to undermine the funding, but within the context of what we have seen in the pandemic, certainly the tribunal does not have the capacity, in a timely fashion, to deal with all of the matters that are brought before it,” Senator Nicholls said.

Though he acknowledged that unfair business practices existed in all sectors, he said it was particularly evident in the construction industry.

“We have employers in Barbados, in particular in the construction sector, that do not honour the awards of the Employment Rights Tribunal and there is no enforcement mechanism to enforce the awards made by the tribunal. In fact, in the most recent decision of the tribunal, the employer did not show up.

“If employers feel that they don’t have to appear before the tribunal at all, make no appearance, file no documents, send no witnesses, make no submissions, and then when judgement is given then they laugh, [and] the legislation has no ability to compel the performance of the award made by the tribunal, then Government needs to address it,” the lawyer insisted.

Senator Nicholls suggested that the administration consider introducing a condition that in order for businesses to get contracts from Government, they must show they have no pending or outstanding awards ordered by the ERT.

He further called on Government to review the current legislation, insisting that the Act governing the tribunal was sorely outdated.

“It’s almost ten years since the passage of the Employment Rights Act; it’s time for a review. It is time for the stakeholders, the Ministry of Labour, the employers, the unions, and the practitioners in the sector, including attorneys-at-law and human resource professionals, because we do not want a situation where Barbados becomes a place where workers’ rights are not respected,” Senator Nicholls said.

He added that there were other pieces of legislation that, while appearing to have good intentions, reduced workers’ rights in many cases.
(SB)