Government will not make any apologies for protecting the rights of Bermudians, acting Minister of Labour David Burch said last night in a press release.

Lt. Col. Burch was responding to claims made by Chamber of Commerce restaurant division president Philip Barnett in yesterday's Royal Gazette that mandatory overtime pay and the delays in obtaining work permits for foreign staff is strangling the restaurant industry.

In a speech Tuesday to Hamilton Rotarians, Mr. Barnett said increased Government red tape over work permits and entertainers was hampering restaurateurs' ability to give the public what they needed.

While he said bar and restaurant owners have lobbied Labour Minister Terry Lister to gain exemptions from the Employment Act, which makes it mandatory to award employees overtime pay, Mr. Barnett said owners were frustrated over Government refusing to grant work permits to foreign entertainers.

“We have to take the barriers away and let the businesses do what the businesses do best, which is being creative and bringing people in. You can't tell the public what they want, they tell us what they want,” Mr. Barnett said. “The entertainment industry has gone downhill for the simple reason that they are not viable, and are not creative because we've taken away the foreign acts that set a standard.”

Lt. Col. Burch shot back yesterday, saying: “It seems that most employers experience no difficulties with the processing of work permits. However, a large number of employers have little regard for work permit procedures, the Bermuda Immigration and Protection Act 1956 or the Employment Act 2000.

“We make no apologies that those offending employers have a tougher time obtaining work permits.”

And, Lt. Col. Burch added, there were a number of reasons why permits have not been granted expediently, including insufficient documentation and submitting permits for potential employees who are ineligible to work in Bermuda.

“In addition, the Department can cite a number of cases where an employer has not carried out the proper due diligence when checking the qualifications or character of the employee and has had to dismiss the employee for incompetence.

“This normally means that the employer will ask the department to fast-track an emergency work permit to hire a replacement for the fired employee,” he said.

The acting Minister also said the Department had noticed an increase in the number of infractions within the restaurant industry, with employees in two restaurants being caught recently working illegally.

Lt. Col. Burch said both the Department of Immigration and the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations had spent an “inordinate” amount of time dealing with complaints from employees in the industry.

To Mr. Barnett's complaint pertaining to hiring foreign entertainers, he said: “...the Minister must strike a balance between ensuring that suitably qualified Bermudian entertainers are hired and that restaurants have available to them quality entertainment that their customers will enjoy.

“The policy relating to entertainers must always ensure that opportunities for employment are available to qualified Bermudians first. The Government makes no apology for continuing to protect the rights of Bermudians.