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For the first year in a row, the Panevėžys Labor Disputes Commission (DGK) announces that they are mostly hampered by unpaid wages. Employees who come to this institution say they have not received legal remuneration for their work. Sometimes even when the cash expense order submitted by the employer confirms that the subordinates have been settled in cash.
As in previous years, last year the Labor Disputes Commission received the highest number of requests for recovery of unpaid wages. In 2020, it was around 72 percent. all applications received during that year, ”said Asta Gudonienė, president of Panevėžys DGK.
According to her, until last year, most complaints about unpaid wages reached the commission table of the construction sector and last year the transport sector became a leader.
According to A. Gudonienė, the situation of disputes between employees and employers has not changed much this year.
Just through the bank
The government and the Seimas have envisioned the removal of cash from the labor market as a means of curbing shady and dishonest employers.
Last week, the Seimas adopted amendments to the Labor Code, which oblige from January 1 of the following year to pay wages and other employment-related benefits by transfer to the account specified by the employee. The exemption will apply to seafarers in the sole profession.
The amendments were not adopted unanimously in the Seimas; some MPs said that only banks would benefit from such amendments.
A former member of the Seimas, and now a farmer from the Panevėžys district, Petras Nevulis, agrees with that.
Will no longer work
P. Nevulis works 400 ha of land in the Panevėžys district.
“Now my wife and I work alone on our farm. But while I was a member of the Seimas, there were more people on the farm. It is very difficult to find responsible employees and workers,” says the farmer.
The hardest thing, he said, was summoning honest people to the berries. According to P. Nevulis, the majority reached those for whom it is better to earn nothing than to receive a salary in a bank account.
“I needed at least 50 berry pickers, each extra hand was useful. The bailiffs have seized the accounts of some workers. If you come to work, it is only to get cash rewards. Why work for them if the money transferred to the account is deleted immediately? ”- says P. Nevulis, who now only grows rapeseed and cereals.
In his opinion, such amendments will cause problems in all the remote towns and not only in the workers persecuted by the bailiffs. Most villages do not have ATMs, not all shops have bank card readers.
“It must remain a person’s choice: to receive a salary through a bank account or in cash. Such amendments limit and cause additional concerns,” P. Nevulis is convinced.
And for the employer, according to the farmer, there is no difference in how to reach an agreement with the employee.
The transfer is suitable for the city.
Most of the salaries of 46 workers are paid by the Daukniūnai agricultural enterprise in the Panevėžys district. However, the group still asks for a cash salary.
The president of the company Kęstutis Povilonis says that the employer has no problem paying wages through the bank, but has no doubt that the new order will cause problems for the rural population.
“Many people come to work from Panevėžys. They are eligible for a salary on the bills, as there is no shortage of ATMs in the city, although there is a need to continue driving in some neighborhoods. And for workers living in Daukniūnai, 12 kilometers to the nearest ATM, ”said K. Povilonis.
According to him, a handful of Daukniūnai residents have to come to the city to get money for their needs in the village. Here not everything can be paid with a bank card.
“Older people in rural areas in particular need cash. You will not ask for money to divide a person’s firewood, to cut a garden, transferring money to an account. Day workers are not interested in such offers.” says K. Povilonis.
Dodge with Marshals
Dainius, a resident of the Karsakiškis old town who works in the forests, does not hide the fact that he does not need a salary through a bank account. A man who has crossed the threshold above the age of 40 has various debts, including child support. The debtor is persecuted by bailiffs who monitor his accounts.
Dainius tries to outwit him by asking for a cash salary.
“If the money came to a bank account, I would not even pay to work, I would have nothing to live on”, Dainius does not hide.
In addition, according to him, even if there is money left in the account, it would be difficult to use it: there is no ATM either in it or in the surrounding villages, and there are more than 15 kilometers from the Karsakiškis center for the elderly to Panevėžys.
“In my town, money can only be withdrawn at the store where the Perlo terminal is located. But if people don’t accept tax money there, there is no cash, “Dainius said.
Fighting the shadow
Due to amendments to the Labor Code, before its adoption, the Confederation of Employers of Lithuania (GDL), which was constantly involved in the discussions, proposed to leave at least a small possibility of paying salaries to employees in cash: transfer money for several months a year.
Wages through the bank alone, as confederation president Dan Arlauskas previously told Sekundei, will not make employers slip out of the shadows.
“I am sure that such a project has nothing to do with the declared struggle against the shadow. It is obvious that these things happen outside the accounting, either in cash or through the bank, as much as the employer decides and will pay transparently, ”said the President of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
However, the Lithuanian Banking Association saw significant benefits from the new regime adopted both for the country’s economy and to ensure the protection of employee rights.
“Cash is a traditional and common form of payment. Provides anonymity: no one knows the path of the network. A study carried out by the World Bank a couple of years ago revealed an obvious link between cash settlements and the extent of the economic shadow: payments for goods and services made in cash promote the concealment of settlements and shadow deals ”, said Dr. Eivilė Čipkutė.
Non-cash, as a method of payment, according to him, offers many more opportunities for transparency, as well as guarantees of order in the employment relationship. According to the Lithuanian Banking Association, now more than a third, about 38%, of all available cash in Lithuania is received as salary.
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