Praneeta Prakash 
[Photo Credit: Parliament of the Republic of Fiji]
The Fiji Commerce and Employers Federation has raised concerns over the proposed Employment Relations Amendment Bill, saying some provisions give labour officers too much power and create legal uncertainty for businesses.
While making submissions on the proposed bill, Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association Chief Executive Fantasha Lockington highlighted Section 19A which allows labour officers to enter workplaces and private homes without consent and demand employment records.
According to the FHTA CEO, granting extensive powers to labour officers could create legal uncertainty, and open avenues for corruption and abuse.
“As drafted in the Bill, Section 19A provides powers to labour officers to be both judge and jury. This can result in the abuse of authority. This is not practice in law and the separation of powers is supposed to be fundamental.”
Lockington called for removal of the excessive powers granted to labour officers under Section 19A.
“We therefore strongly recommend that the excessive powers in Section 19A be removed so that labour officers are subject to the same limitations as other law enforcement arms of government, and secondly that the Bill must include clear guidelines and accountability measures to ensure that the labour officers exercise their powers fairly and proportionately, and is not something that we have seen in the amendments thus far.”
The consultations are part of the ongoing public engagement process on the Employment Relations Amendment Bill, which seeks to balance the rights of workers with the needs of employers.
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