Terry Lister for ignoring forms which give the racial breakdown of their workforce.

The first section of the Commission for Racial Equality forms were due in by October 13 -- Mr. Lister said only nine firms out of 436 had failed to send the forms back.

He said they will be shamed through the court process if they don't comply and would stand out as pariahs in the community.

Mr. Lister said: "They are all local companies which is a bit disappointing, to be honest. They are of a smallish size.

"It's getting late now. We really do need them to submit.

"All the international companies submitted and in a very timely fashion. When we had to chase people there were very few international companies which had to be chased.

"There were 436 registrants, of which nine have not reported. Obviously we are very concerned about those nine -- we are working to follow up on them.

"If they fail to report they can find themselves in the courts.'' Companies which have failed to register with CURE face a maximum fine of $1,000 while firms which have failed to provide information could be hit with a $5,000 penalty.

"However I think what is more important for them is not what the fine is because the fine is tiny -- some of the better paid employees make more in a week than the fine,'' said Mr. Lister.

"So the fine isn't going to hurt them but it's the embarrassment as they stand before their peers as being one who simply refused to comply with the law.

"If I was one of the companies that would encourage me to fall in line, why be a pariah? "Under the law their actual returns are private between them and us and the public will never know what was sent in form three.

"But if they do not send the form in the public will know through the court process and there would be a name and shame scenario where the press would carry a big story on it.'' Mr. Lister said even if the companies get their act together vital time has still be lost.

He said: "Once the company smartens up and turns the information in next month they would have lost four months of capturing hiring, dismissals, promotions -- all of the form four stuff which logs what happened during the course of the year.

"We are very pleased 98 percent of the people who should have submitted their form threes have done so.

"We are collating that information and should be able to produce a report in the new year.

"August 31 2000 is the baseline which all future activities will be measured so it's important to get this right.'' CURE goes online Page 5 Help for consumers Page 5