10.03.2023

WILL YOU BE PAID A SALARY IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CONTRACT?

Workers and employees should not agree to sign contracts with fictitious terms in them, as this prevents the control authorities from gathering indisputable evidence of the violations. This is advised by the Executive Agency "General Labor Inspectorate" (ЕA GLI).

In response to an inquiry by BTA, the department states that it is important for citizens to file reports in a timely manner, while they are still working, in order to be established at the workplace. Assisting the supervisory authorities, who are obliged to protect the anonymity of the whistleblowers, is also one of the advice of the GLI. From there they emphasize that the verbally agreed working conditions also hinder the provision of adequate protection.

"Labor legislation guarantees the rights of workers, but no one can protect them better than themselves," commented the inspection.

The most common alerts

The Labor Inspectorate often receives reports from workers who complain that they have not been paid what was agreed after they worked without an employment contract and were dismissed. The GLI states that in such cases no control can be carried out, because they cannot actually establish that the applicant is working. They cannot force the employer to pay the due amounts, as there is no written evidence that he really owes them, the inspection explains.

"It is also a common practice to report unpaid remuneration after the termination of the employment relationship, but during the inspections it turns out that the amount agreed in writing has been paid, and the individuals claim to have agreed verbally," the GLI also commented.

The reports received by the Labor Inspectorate mostly concern labor relations. They are related to the payment of labor, the creation and termination of employment relationships.

Last year, the control bodies of the Labor Inspection established 93,954 violations related to the implementation of labor relations. The most common ones refer to the payment of labor, the establishment of employment relationships and the provisions on the distribution of working time.

For January 2023, 3,392 inspections were carried out, during which 18,749 violations were found. The number of persons working without an employment contract in January 2023 was 270. The most violations are found in the sectors and economic activities in which the most inspections are carried out. These are construction, hotel and catering, trade, crop production and animal husbandry.

These sectors have been identified on the basis of analyzes of the results of the control activity and other analyzes as high-risk in terms of the application of labor legislation. Accordingly, measures for enhanced control are planned in them and the largest number of checks are carried out in relation to all economic activities, commented the GLI. And they specify that more violations are also found in economic activities such as "Clothing production" and "Food production".

The prevention of health and safety at work

The prevention of "black work" and ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, especially in high-risk activities and sectors, are among the key highlights of the Labor Inspectorate's control. For the prevention and limitation of the "gray" economy, a special measure is planned annually, the inspections of which are focused on the implementation of labor relations. Commercial establishments are being intensively inspected, and campaigns are being planned in seasonal establishments, mainly in the hotel and restaurant industry, as the risk of working without employment contracts in them is also very high, noted the GLI.

From the end of 2022, an increase in the number of employees of the General Labor Inspectorate has also begun. The inspectorate believes that the appointment of more officers with inspection powers will contribute to covering more jobs in more economic activities.

According to another planned measure, periodic control is carried out in sites with high-risk activities in terms of ensuring health and safety when working in them. These are objects in the mining industry, metalworking, production and storage of ammunition, etc., which must be inspected at least once a year.

Citizens can assess the working environment themselves

From the end of 2022, workers can check whether there is a risk of working undeclared through a special self-assessment tool. It was developed under the project "Cooperation for Decent Working Conditions", financed by the Fund for Bilateral Relations under the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area and the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014 - 2021.

"The value of this tool is that if a risk is identified, the workers also receive guidance on how to act to eliminate it," commented GLI. The tool is available here.

Questionnaires for self-control were also developed under another project "Optimization and Innovations in EA GLI " of the Operational Program "Development of Human Resources", co-financed by the European Social Fund. They are related to general requirements of legislation, as well as specific to specific sectors and economic activities. These questionnaires are sent by labor inspectors to employers. At the discretion of the labor inspectors and depending on the information filled in and the risk of violations, an on-the-spot inspection is carried out at an enterprise, before which, however, the employers again have time to correct the discrepancies. Filling out the questionnaires itself does not carry any risk of sanctions for them, but it helps them to determine for themselves which legal provision they are violating and to remedy the violation, according to GLI.

At the Labor Inspectorate, we do not believe that all employers commit intentional violations. In most cases, it is a matter of ignorance. That is why we do our best to support honest employers in their efforts to comply with the law through the implementation of similar projects, commented the department.

In order to increase the awareness of employers and workers about their rights and obligations regarding labor legislation, in addition to the developed self-assessment tool, the inspectorate launched the information campaign "Decent work - it's up to you".

If workers believe that their labor rights have been violated, they can report to the Labor Inspectorate or to the Inspectorate's Hotline 0700 17 670.