Cabinet has approved drafting instructions to make long-awaited changes to Cayman’s Labour Act to enhance private-sector employee benefits – from increasing parental leave to improving vacation and overtime pay entitlements.
The Ministry of Labour has confirmed work has started to move the changes forward; however, it told the Cayman Compass via email that the instructions have “just been given so there is still a lot of work to be done including public consultation”.
No timeline was provided for when this process will commence.
‘Modernise employment standards’
Labour Minister Dwayne Seymour, in a statement at the recent Parliament sitting on the proposed changes to the law, said, “it is imperative to understand the immediate need to modernise our employment standards to ensure that all employees benefit favourably in these islands”.
He said the entitlements that government intends to propose are increasing employee benefits for pregnant women, mothers and fathers relative to parental and adoption leave, and improvements to vacation leave and overtime pay entitlements.
“These proposed changes aim to enhance the legislation to align the local employment standards with that of the civil service of the Cayman Islands government, and the international standards of the labour reform enforced by the International Labour Organisation to remain competitive in this fast-paced global landscape,” he said.
Earlier this year, government gave civil servants increased parental leave benefits, but private-sector workers did not receive the same privilege as that would require legislative changes.
Local advocacy group Parental Entitlements Working Group, which was formed to champion increases to local parental leave benefits, has been calling for changes to existing benefits for some time.
Caymanian mom Bethany Ebanks-Pacheco, of the Parental Entitlements Working Group, met with Seymour more than a year ago to present the organisation’s recommendation for changes.
The Compass has reached out to Ebanks-Pacheco for comment on this latest development and is awaiting a response.
Amendments to the Personnel Regulations’ standard terms and conditions of employment for civil servants, which took effect in March, increased maternity leave entitlements from 90 to 110 working days and raised the paid portion of maternity leave from 30 to 60 working days on normal pay.
Overall paternity leave entitlements increased, from two working weeks to 20 working days, with one week on normal pay raised to 10 working days, and the remainder without pay.
Additional changes proposed
Seymour, in his statement in Parliament, said other key recommendations to improve the legal employment requirements for all employees are being proposed to address the need for workers to receive their employment contracts within 10 working days from the start date of their employment.
He said the changes must also address the need for employers to retain accurate records (such as hours worked, leave type taken, and wages/salaries paid) for all employees instead of only if 10 or more people are employed as stated in the current Labour Act.
Additionally, there is a need to change the provision for employers to keep employee records for five years as per the National Pensions Act rather than for two years as stipulated under the Labour Act, Seymour said.
Changes are also to be brought to address the order of costs/legal fees to be recouped by complainants and/or appellants for cases they win in legal proceedings before the Labour Tribunal and Labour Appeals Tribunal.
Seymour said there is a need “to grant the Department of Labour and Pensions the regulatory power to issue administrative fines to non-compliant employers that have breached the labour legislation”.
The changes will also include creating secondary legislation outlining the potential breaches of the law and the related administrative fines that may be charged in each instance.
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