Company convicted for deduction and non-remittance of employee pension contributions to the Construction Workers Pension Scheme in prosecution taken by The Pensions Board
Friday 11 November 2011: In Waterford District Court on Friday 4 November 2011, Judge Early imposed fines totaling €1,000 on Cross Electrical Ltd., a company with a registered address at Greenan, Carroll’s Cross, Co. Waterford, for failing to remit employee pension contributions to the trustee of the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS) within the statutory time limit and for failing to comply with a statutory request made by The Pensions Board. Dermot O’Neill, John Kirwan and Patricia Kirwan were also each convicted and fined €200 for failing to comply with a statutory request made by The Pensions Board.
The Court had adjourned the sentencing of thismatter from the 7 January 2011 to 4 November 2011 in order for Cross Electrical Ltd. to discharge the outstanding pension contributions to CWPS. The Court heard evidence that an amount of €81,606 had been discharged by Cross Electrical Ltd. and that all pension contributions had been restored to the pension scheme.
Cross Electrical Ltd. had deducted pension contributions from the wages and salaries of its employees in the months of May 2009, June 2009, July 2009, October 2009, and November 2009, for remittance to the trustee of CWPS but had failed to remit the contributions to the trustee within the statutory time frame. This meant that employees working for that company were not covered for pension benefits, sick pay benefits or death in service benefits for those months.
Commenting on the conviction in this case, the Chief Executive of the Pensions Board, Mr. Brendan Kennedy, said, “This conviction should act as a warning to all employers and company directors that The Pensions Board treats the failure of the employer to remit pension contributions to the trustees of the pension scheme as a very serious offence. The priority for the Board at all times is to have members contributions paid over to the scheme. We advise any employer with outstanding pension contributions to immediately contact the pension scheme to regularise their position.”
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For further information:
David Malone
Head of Information
The Pensions Board
Tel (01) 6131900
Note to Editors
The Pensions Board
The Pensions Board is the statutory body established by The Pensions Act 1990 to regulate occupational pension schemes, trust based RACs and Personal Retirement Savings Accounts (PRSAs) and to advise the Minister for Social Protection on overall pension policy development. See www.pensionsboard.ie
Under the Act, the Board has power to investigate the state and conduct of Irish pension schemes, and to ensure that trustees, employers, pension administrators and their advisers comply with the obligations they owe to current and former employees in relation to their pension contributions and benefits.
The Board’s powers allow it to conduct on-site visits without notice, seize and copy relevant documents, enter dwellings on foot of a warrant, and to prosecute and or sue any person that contravenes the provisions of the Act.
The Construction Workers Pension Scheme (“CWPS”)
CWPS is an occupational pension scheme approved by the Revenue Commissioners and registered with the Pensions Board. It was established pursuant to a Registered Employment Agreement (“REA”) on Construction Industry Pensions, Assurance and Sick Pay, which is registered by the Labour Court and was concluded between employers and employee organisations operating in the construction industry.
Under the REA, all employers operating in the construction industry are required to become a party to an approved contributory pension scheme to provide pension and death-in-service benefits to employees. These obligations are discharged by deducting pension contributions from their employees and remitting them to CWPS or another appropriate scheme.