Inspections in the workplace can take the form of health and safety inspections, regulatory inspections or employment compliance inspections.  While NERA now forms part of the Workplace Relations forum, its inspectorate function will continue under the new legislation. The most recent report showed that NERA carried out 5,546 inspections and visits in 2013 of which almost 9% were jointly undertaken with officials from Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and the Gardaí. The report states that many of these visits were unannounced and undertaken outside normal office hours at night and at weekends. Therefore it pays to be as prepared as possible for potential visits and to ensure you have a protocol in place that your staff are aware of. Linda Hynes, Managing Associate in the Employment Team has prepared a handy checklist that can be used as a procedure or training tool for organisations in raising staff awareness on managing inspections whether announced or unannounced.

To access the Preparing for Inspections Checklist please click here.

To learn more about the Leman Employment Team please click here: http://leman.ie/practices/employment/