A long-planned revamp of the Cayman Islands pension and labour regulatory systems looks to be coming to fruition within the next few months.
Employment Minster Rolston Anglin announced at the Chamber of Commerce Business Expo on Friday that the new Department of Labour and Pensions would be “formally launched” in the first quarter of this year.
The department will deal with regulating Cayman’s labour market, while a separate agency – the Department of Human capital Development – will focus on job training and placement for Caymanians.
“We see costs at the department of social services growing every day and that is a trend we must reverse,” Mr. Anglin told the audience at the Expo. “The only way we are going to reverse it is having people with higher levels of skills better prepared for the world of work.”
Mr. Anglin named local businessman Mario Ebanks to head up the labour and pensions office. Mr. Ebanks is a previous Chamber of Commerce manager, and has also worked as Esso’s country manager for the Caribbean and Central America. He now runs his own company, Premier HR Management Solutions.
He was also one of the principal architects of Cayman’s ‘Vision 2008’ plan, which was used to inform and advise many government decisions during its day.
“I have always been very passionate about these subjects, including during my previous service with the Cayman Islands Government, when I was closely involved with assisting Labour Law reform and also played a pivotal role in the development and eventual passage of the National Pension Law and Regulations,” Mr. Ebanks said.
Mr. Anglin’s ministry has been working for a couple of years on solutions to what he has called “long-standing failures and inefficiencies” of the labour and pensions governance structure. The move to a Department of Labour and Pensions was decided as a way to consolidate work now done by two offices, the Department of Employment Relations and the National Pensions Office, into a “one-stop shop”.
Minister Anglin believes the new system will allow for more proactive workplace inspections, while causing minimal disruption for employers who abide by local laws. A review done in 2010 by Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams found 670 companies were in some stage of non-compliance with the country’s National Pensions Law.
Ministry Chief Officer Mary Rodrigues said the department restructuring would be done “within existing budget allocations for the ministry”.
Pensions fix
Work is also being completed on a re-write of Cayman’s National Pensions Law, ministry officials noted.
Although a specific proposal has not been released, Premier McKeeva Bush has previously spoken about government’s plans to change to the current pension compliance system.
During a budget address to the Legislative Assembly in 2010, Mr. Bush said the current pensions law has failed to protect employees in Cayman.
Mr. Bush has said the government plans to introduce a ‘fixed ticket penalty’ system to “more efficiently bring delinquent/unscrupulous employers to account for labour, pension or health insurance infractions.”
Currently, delinquent employers must be taken to court to be fined for pension contribution infractions.
Mr. Bush said the amendments to the law were necessary because the government would require “a small army” to implement and enforce the National Pensions Law as it stands.
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