Businesses ‘can thrive ‘amid evolving labour laws

Lawyers and business leaders generally agree that firms can thrive amidst evolving labour laws, a panel of experts in law and entrepreneurship have said.

The panel, appearing at a forum during the Barbados Employers’ Confederation’s 64th annual general meeting, shed light on the challenges and opportunities presented by recent and existing legislative changes relating to employment.

Attorneys Liesel Weekes and Michelle Russell joined Roseanne Myers, the general manager of Atlantis Submarines on the discussion, Labour Law is Evolving: Can Businesses Survive? All three affirmed that businesses must adapt and thrive amid the shifting landscape of labour legislation.

Weekes, an acting judge, kicked off the dialogue by emphasising the importance of collaboration among employers and employees: “What needs to happen with legislation for it to actually accomplish its purpose is a balance between workforce and workplace.

“There’s no need for a workforce if there’s no workplace and the way we strike that balance is to have collaborative communication prior to the promulgation of legislation.”

She suggested that policymakers engage with industry players before drafting laws to ensure practicality and efficacy.

“When the policy is developed, it is the players in the industry who are going to be most affected by [it], who needs to inform how that piece of legislation can work to achieve the objective of the policy,” Weekes said.

Myers highlighted businesses’ ability to comply with existing laws: “As a business, you can survive and actually thrive if you engage with the legislation from the point of view of understanding what the intent is and trying to understand how your business can adapt.”

But Russell highlighted the historical underpinnings of labour legislation favouring employees that evolved from a “master-servant relationship”. She expressed scepticism towards policymakers, lamenting the lack of practicality in implementation and engagement with stakeholders.

She made a plea for empathy, which she described as the missing ingredient in the workplace: “Would I like this if it was done to me? Is this a reasonable expectation? Is this a reasonable working condition? If any of this is reasonable, then we don’t have legislatures coming in and trying to tell you what to do in your individual business that then has a penalty,

“If we approach life from the simplest human form, the law comes in to fill a need or fix a problem. In the absence of problem and need, the law doesn’t come in. So we should treat each other as humans and exercise empathy.”