Congress understands the Minister for Social Protection intends to sign secondary legislation into law to protect the integrity of the new pension auto-enrolment scheme under the powers given to him by the Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings System Act.
Welcoming the commitment to set out in regulation minimum standards on employer contributions into existing pension schemes and other matters to ensure employees exempt from auto-enrolment are not being shortchanged, Irish Congress of Trade Union general secretary Owen Reidy said:
Setting minimum employer contributions for determining whether an employee will be auto-enrolled has become an urgent and necessary move to protect the integrity of auto-enrolment and spare another generation of workers from seeing their income and living standards plummet in retirement.
New regulations will mean a token employer pension contribution will no longer satisfy the requirements of the Act, cutting off this avenue for those employers looking to violate the spirit of the law.
Workers coming under pressure from their employer to waive their right to a pension or one that will be at least as favourable as auto-enrolment should contact their trade union for advice.
