The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas was yesterday criticised for “weak enforcement” of its labour laws by the US government, with fines and penalties insufficient to prevent violations by employers.

The US State Department’s annual ‘human rights report’ on the Bahamas, which assess worker rights, provided no evidence or specific examples to support its claims.

Yet it said the Bahamian authorities had admitted to a three-year case backlog at the Industrial Tribunal, which is often the first court to which employment-related disputes are sent.

“Enforcement of labour laws was weak,” the US report said. “There was no information on the adequacy of enforcement resources.

“Fines varied widely by case and were not sufficient to deter violations. Administrative and judicial procedures were subject to lengthy delays and appeals...... Authorities reported a case backlog of up to three years at the tribunal.”

The report added that the Department of Labour made efforts to enforce the laws, but their effectiveness was reduced by manpower and resource availability.

“The Government made efforts to enforce the law, with labour inspectors proactively sent to stores and businesses on a regular basis, but resource constraints limited their effectiveness,” the US report added.

“The Ministry of Labour reported no severe violations of child labour laws, although inspectors reported several instances of children working in small merchant businesses or excess hours in grocery stores.”

Elsewhere, the US report said Bahamian workers lacked the right “to refuse to work under hazardous conditions”. And Bahamian labour laws did not cover undocumented and ‘informal economy’ workers.

“The Ministry [of Labour and National Insurance] was responsible for enforcing labour laws, including the minimum wage, and had a team of 10 inspectors that conducted on-site visits to enforce occupational health and safety standards, and investigate employee concerns and complaints, although inspections occurred infrequently,” the US State Department report said.

“The ministry generally announced inspection visits in advance, and employers generally cooperated with inspectors to implement safety standards.

“It was uncertain whether these inspections were effective in enforcing health and safety standards. The Government did not levy fines for non-compliance, but occasionally forced a work stoppage. Such penalties were not sufficiently stringent to deter violations.”

The US State Department report added that the Government “did not always effectively enforce” the law against forced labour although, again, it provided no supporting evidence or examples.

While describing the appropriate penalties as sufficient, the report added: “Although the Ministry of Labour and National Insurance received no reports of forced labour during the year, local non-governmental organisations noted that exploited workers often did not report their circumstances to government officials for fear of deportation and lack of education about available resources.

“Undocumented migrants were vulnerable to forced labour, especially in domestic servitude and in the agriculture sector. There were reports that non-citizen labourers, often of Haitian origin, were vulnerable to forced labour and suffered abuses at the hands of their employers, who were responsible for endorsing their work permits on an annual basis.

“Specifically, local sources indicated that employers reportedly obtained $1,000 work permits for non-citizen employees and then required them to ‘work off’ the permit fee over the course of their employment, or otherwise risk losing the permit and their ability to work legally within the country.”

The US report also identified the Bahamian financial services industry as one where ‘union busting’ allegations were made to the Bahamian authorities.