Slovak News Back to the news
Tripartite Agrees to Raise Fines for Illegal Work up to €200,000
Monday 23 November 2009 Zoom in | Print page
Bratislava, November 23 (TASR) - The Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry proposes increasing fines for illegal employment to between €2,000-200,000, Ministry State Secretary Emilia Krsikova said on Monday after a meeting of the social partners (the so-called Tripartite that includes representatives of the Government, trade unions and employers).
"Enough nice words have been used so far. The current version of the law is too lenient. It's time to make the whole system stricter," said Krsikova, noting that circumstances and any repetition of illegal employment will be taken in into account when deciding on the level of a fine.
President of the Republican Union of Employers (RUZ) Marian Jusko views such a move as poorly thought out, however, and warned of the danger of ruinous fines.
Conversely, vice-president of the Slovak Federation of Employers' Associations (AZZZ) Milan Chupek views the new fine levels as appropriate.
According to the new rules, employers who are caught twice employing people illegally could lose their trading licences.
The new proposal also includes an obligation for employers who are given state contributions to maintain jobs to train employees who have to stay at home due to a lack of work while earning only part of their salaries. According to Krsakova, this is the best time to educate employees. She promised that all the costs will be covered by the state.
The Tripartite also agreed on a new kind of allowance that is designed to support job flexibility. It should be provided to job applicants who become unemployed after a work contract concluded for a specific time longer than three months. The ministry originally proposed providing the benefit to people who were only employed for at least one month, but the required minimum period was extended to prevent the measure from being abused.
All rights reserved. Any publishing or further dissemination of press releases and photographs from TASR's resources without TASR's prior written approval constitutes a violation of the Copyrights Act.
