Secretive firms face £75,000 fines

Contractors are being reminded that they face potential fines of up to £75,000 if they fail to comply with the new Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations which start coming into force from next March.
Hundreds of larger construction firms are starting to gear up for this next tranche of employment law - even as they are coming to terms with the implications of the workplace disputes resolution regulations and disability discrimination provisions, which took effect from the beginning of October.
The latest set of regulations will require both public and private sector employers to provide information and formally consult with their employees on a range of issues. They are being introduced on a staged basis depending on the number of employees in a company.
The timetable for implementation is:
nÊ23 March 2005 - firms with 150 or more employees.
nÊMarch 2007 - firms with at least 100 employees.
nÊMarch 2008 - firms with at least 50 employees.
Government figures do not show the number of construction firms with 150-plus employees, but there are 800 with more than 115 employees each.
Companies will be required to negotiate agreements with their staff within six months of the implementation date. Negotiations need to be requested by at least 10% of the workforce.
The regulations include a clause prohibiting the unauthorised disclosure of information provided by the employer in confidence.
A Construction Confederation spokesman said: "We don't envisage any immediate problems. It does involve a change of culture. And it remains to be seen how many take up the option of requesting an agreement.
"Any problems may occur further down the line with the smaller companies. Here it could mean that having just five or six workers could determine whether there is to be an information and consultation agreement."
The TUC said: "The main impact of the regulations is likely to be to drive the spread of organisation-specific information and consultation agreements, reached either voluntarily, or as a consequence of the statutory trigger mechanism."
Union sources have noted that any fines will go straight to the Treasury.