of onerous tasks to comply with the new Employment Act should stop worrying, according to Malcolm Dixon, executive director of the Bermuda Employers Council.

He said most of his members already had many of the fair practice measures put forward by the law in place.

Mr. Dixon said the first thing employers had to do was to give a written statement of employment for new employees.

This is a contract of employment with details of the contract between the employer and employee and has to be signed and dated by both parties.

"This does not have to be a large document,'' said Mr. Dixon. "In fact it can be done on one page if necessary.'' This document has to comply with the new Employment Act stipulations on employment conditions.

Mr. Dickson and the Employers Council have been giving talks to their members about the new legislation which came into effect on March 1, 2001.

And he stressed that so far no major problems had been found yet with the legal document.

The second thing employers will have to do is to draft a contract for all existing employees within a year and during the next 12 months bring working practices in line with the Act.

Every departing employee is also entitled to request and receive a certificate of termination from his or her employer and, at the request of the employee, specify the reason for termination.

Existing employees are subject to a one-year transition period. This means that an existing employee cannot make a complaint to the inspector in respect to any breach of the terms of the act by the employer in the first year.

Mr. Dickson said any Employer's Council members with any questions about the act can contact his organisation, and recommended smaller employers and contractors to go to a session being held by the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations on the act on March 21 at 9 a.m. at Bermuda College.

Any questions about the Act can be directed to the Department of Labour and Industry Relations.

"The purpose of the act is to make it fair for employees and to adopt fair practices for employees,'' Mr. Dickson said.

Mr. Dickson said that his organisation along with the trade unions had been working hand-in-glove with the Minister Paula Cox to make sure that the needs of fair practice were melded with practicable solutions for employers.

Malcolm Dixon