The Pensions Board is to set up a lo-call telephone number for employees to report their bosses if they do not comply with pensions legislation that comes into effect on Monday.
From September 15th, employers must either give employees who are excluded from a company pension scheme access to a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) or change the rules of their company scheme to include all employees with more than six months' service.
Employees who are not made aware of their right to contribute to a standard PRSA through payroll deductions can phone the lo-call number 1890 65 65 65 to report their employer for non-compliance with the mandatory access provision.
"Employees are likely to be the best people to know if an employer has complied or not," said Ms Anne Maher, chief executive of the Pensions Board. "We will be responding to complaints from employees and trade unions acting on behalf of employees and following up on those."
Employers must appoint a PRSA provider by Monday to be compliant, regardless of whether their staff intend to contribute to the new type of portable pension.
The Pensions Board, the statutory body regulating occupational schemes and PRSAs, will use lists of employers supplied to it by banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions to check which of the 170,000 registered employers have signed Section 121 letters of appointment nominating a PRSA provider. The return of Section 121 letters are due by the end of October.
The Pensions Board also said it will consult lists of employers held by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.
"We do not have the resources to go around all the employers in Ireland," Ms Maher said.
However, some random checks will take place in addition to those following up complaints made to the lo-call number.
Employers who do not comply may be found guilty of a criminal offence, for which fines and penalties ranging from €1,500 to €12,700 and/or jail terms of one or two years may be imposed.
However, it is unlikely that any employer will face prosecution for some time. Ms Maher said it was normal practice to give employers the opportunity to explain why they had not complied and "get it sorted out" before prosecuting.
Just two weeks ago, it was estimated that a fifth of employers had complied with the new rules.
"Our understanding from hearsay evidence is that there has been an awful lot of activity in recent weeks," Ms Maher said.
