Pensions Board case against construction company director is adjourned to allow director time to come up with money for the pension scheme.
Tuesday 9 November 2010: In Ardee District Court yesterday, Judge Clyne adjourned The Pensions Board case against Louis Tighe, director of H.T.E Limited (In Liquidation), until 9 May 2011. The adjournment is to allow time for Tighe to come up with monies for the Construction Workers Pension Scheme (CWPS).
Louis Tighe, with an address at Drumsillagh, Drumconrath, Navan, Co. Meath, was a director of H.T.E Limited (In Liquidation) a company which had deducted pension contributions from the wages and salaries of its employees between March 2007 and July 2009 for remittance to the trustees of CWPS and failed to remit the pension contributions to the trustees within the statutory timeframe.
Ger Clarke, in giving evidence on behalf of The Pensions Board, stated that, on foot of receiving complaints from employees, this employer had deducted pension contributions from wages and salaries but failed to remit them to the pension scheme. Board staff carried out a search of the company’s premises on 2 October 2009 to investigate this matter. It was stated in Court that it was estimated that the employees’ pension contributions which were deducted from employees’ wages and salaries but not remitted to the scheme came to €211,611.01. This meant that employees working for that company were not covered for pension benefits, sick-pay benefits or death benefits between March 2007 and July 2009.
The Pensions Board supervises occupational pension schemes and monitors employers’ compliance with the legislation relating to the collection and remittance of pension contributions.
Commenting on this case, the Chief Executive of The Pensions Board, Mr. Brendan Kennedy, said, “This case is a warning to all employers and directors that The Pensions Board treats the failure of the employer to pass on pension contributions to the trustees of the pension scheme as a very serious offence. We advise any employer with outstanding pension contributions to 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
Jackie Gallagher
Q4 Public Relations
Tel (01) 4751444
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 and Family Affairs, and through him, the Government, 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.