A CONSTRUCTION company which failed to produce payslips requested by Pensions Ombudsman Paul Kenny, was yesterday fined €750 plus costs at Killarney District Court.
The ombudsman requested copies of all payslips relating to a former employee of McAllen Construction Limited, after receiving a complaint from the employee that pension deductions had been made from his wages, but not remitted to the Construction Workers Pension Scheme.
Proceedings were initiated after Mr Kenny’s request for copies of the payslips within 14 days was ignored.
Commenting on the case, Mr Kenny said; “It is a requirement that all construction workers be members of the Construction Workers Pension Scheme. . . while I have many cases where this has not happened, this particular case is much more serious in that the complainant maintains that pension contributions were deducted from his wages but were not remitted by his employer to the pension scheme.
“Consequently it is important that I have sight of payroll records and payslips to complete my investigation.”
Mr Kenny added that if it was the case that during an investigation, it was discovered and proven that an employer deducted but failed to remit pension contributions, he would not just make the company liable, but would also make others such as directors and managers of the company personally liable for having allowed it to happen and for the unremitted contributions.