THE Irish equine industry has come out as the worst sector for employment breaches last year, according to the latest Annual Report of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).

The WRC fourth annual report, released this week, details their inspections and outcomes in a breakdown per sector up to December 31st 2018.

The equine sector recorded the highest breach rate at 84%, involving almost 1,000 employees.

Of the 45 equine cases inspected by the WRC to December 2018, 38 of those cases recorded breaches, a rate of 84%, affecting 949 employees and involving unpaid wages to the tune of €73,469.

The fisheries sector had a breach rate of 68% with 27 of the 40 cases inspected by the WRC recording breaches, involving 43 employees with unpaid wages of €433.

Both the equine and the fisheries sectors were the focus of a targeted inspection campaign by the WRC last year, according to the Report.

By comparison, the key agriculture and construction sectors fared much better on the breach rates recorded by the WRC inspectors.

The agriculture sector involved 106 cases, 46 of whom were in breach, a rate of 43%, affecting 6,312 employees and unpaid wages of €188,597.

The construction sector involved 81 cases, with 37 in breach, a rate of 46%, involving 1,835 employees and unpaid wages of €109,562.

Failure to keep adequate workplace record comes out in all sectors as the biggest breach at 52%.

The report which says the WRC described as a “high-risk” sector for possible workplace breaches, found that 25% of breaches in the equine sector related to time off while just 7% involved failure to pay the national minimum wage (NMW).

WELCOMED

The Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market, and Data Protection, Pat Breen TD, welcomed the Annual Report, describing last year as “a very successful year for the WRC” with a 20% increase in inspections in 2018 over over €3 million recovered in unpaid wages, a rise of 75% on 2017.

“As the economy continues to do well, we must ensure that those in work are paid what they are due and the WRC is playing a significant role in the pursuit of this objective,” said the Minister.

KEY Findings of 2018 report

• There were 5,312 adjudication hearings held in 2018 – an average 21 hearings per working day.

• Over 90% of complaints are processed within six months.

• In 2018, just 4,050 days were lost to industrial relations disputes, the lowest level since 2012.

• Overall compliance rates in terms of inspections concluded by the WRC averaged 44% but some sectors recorded over 60% breach rates (Electrical, Food and Drink, Hair and Beauty, Transport, Wholesale and Retail) while Fisheries and the Equine sector were higher again.