16.06.2021

HOW TO FIND OUT IF AN OFFER TO WORK ABROAD IS A SCAM

The labor inspectorates of Bulgaria and France plan to carry out joint / coordinated inspections as part of the pan-European campaign "Rights in all seasons" (# Rights4AllSeasons), announced the Executive Agency "General Labor Inspectorate" / GIT /.

The inspections are scheduled for September. Within them, control will be carried out of French employers who have hired Bulgarian seasonal workers, as well as of companies related to their sending from Bulgaria.

The campaign, already announced by the Employment Agency, starts on June 15, 2021 and will last until the end of October. GIT is the main partner of the Employment Agency for its implementation in our country. The aim is to raise the awareness of jobseekers, workers and employers about their rights and obligations in seasonal employment, as well as to address the need to promote fair and safe working conditions for seasonal workers employed in European Union countries.

The start of the campaign coincides with the period of mass employment of cross-border seasonal workers. IA GIT again reminds job seekers to be especially careful when looking for work abroad. Given the KOVID-19 pandemic, those wishing to work abroad should be aware of the conditions for entry into the host country as part of the anti-epidemic measures. Such information is constantly published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A signal for possible fraud is if the employer refuses a personal meeting with the employee when arranging the departure and hiring, or such a meeting is held outside the office. Jobseekers should not be required to pay fees and other payments related to the job placement. The documents under which jobseekers sign must be in a language they can understand. Any retention of people's personal documents is a warning that they may fall into a trafficking scheme for the purpose of labor exploitation.

In order to make sure that the employee is in order with the company that sends him, he can check for himself whether it is registered with the Employment Agency as an intermediary company or a company that provides temporary work. For this purpose, he can make a reference on the website of the EA, and the lists are publicly available.

The Labor Inspectorate periodically publishes on its website useful information for jobseekers abroad https://www.gli.government.bg/bg/node/11419. Especially for the campaign a section "European campaign: Rights in all seasons" has been created https://www.gli.government.bg/bg/taxonomy/term/519.

Information on working and living conditions in the EU Member States is also published on the EURES Bulgaria website, and information at European level in connection with the campaign will also be published on the website of the European Labor Authority: https: //www.ela. europa.eu/campaigns/rights-for-all-seasons.