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Crime Solicitors

Disqualification and fine for breaches of Employment Regulations (1 December 2016)

Date: 01/12/2016
Duncan Lewis, Crime Solicitors, Disqualification and fine for breaches of Employment Regulations

The director of a recruitment company has been disqualified for two years and ordered to pay a total of £32,979.38 in penalties after a criminal investigation into breaches of employment law.

Stephen Paul Harvey, 63, of north London was fined a total of £16,000 and ordered to pay £16,979.38 towards prosecution costs, following a hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court. Prior to the hearing, Harvey made arrangements to pay compensation voluntarily.

Harvey’s conviction follows a full criminal investigation and Prosecution by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy upon a referral by Companies House.

He pleaded guilty to eight charges contrary to the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 – the legislation is enforced by the Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate.

The offending relates to the operation by Harvey of two companies, one incorporated in England and Wales and the other in Malta – which were both called Whites Recruitment International Ltd, leading to “considerable confusion”.

Of the eight charges, four relate to the failure to provide four workers with the necessary paperwork in relation to their employer and the terms their employment – one or other, or both, companies operated as employment businesses, which sent a number of civil engineers and quantity surveyors to work on a project constructing universities in Libya.

The other four charges relate to withholding from the workers wages totalling €25,905.60, being their final month’s pay, even though the company through which they were paid had the means to pay – three workers were not paid when their contracts came to an abrupt end when Colonel Gaddafi’s government was overthrown in February 2011. The fourth had resigned in December 2010.

Deputy Chief Investigation Officer, Ian West from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy said:

“This is a case where Mr Harvey took action that ensured that his employment business failed to comply with the regulations that govern the industry, causing significant confusion and financial losses to four of its clients.

“This conduct is not acceptable – and such breaches will be investigated and prosecuted with the full force of the law, which is likely, as in this case, to attract substantial financial penalties, which should serve as a warning to others that the Employment Regulations are not to be flouted.”

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