The Seimas begins to look for those responsible for the excessive distribution of aid: 630 million will be paid to employers “after the downtime.” euros

The Seimas Audit Committee examined the support distributed to employers by the Employment Service: the service administers support when employers release employees in downtime, and until the end of 2020 it also paid support after downtime. However, this support was “eaten away” by a wide range of abuses by companies whose employees were not on downtime.

Delfi previously wrote that while the state significantly supported businesses during downtime last year, it paid employers three times more after downtime – 500 million. it was used to save jobs in companies. That support was also available to those companies that had even been successful in the past year and had no downtime. At that time, support did not necessarily reach all affected companies, and the Employment Service warned of the beginnings of abuse.

25 thousand companies laid off their employees and the total number of employees rose to 231.7 thousand. 190 million have already been paid to these companies. euros.

27,000 employers applied for “after downtime” benefits for 260,000. workers. 545.9 million have already been paid to these companies. almost three more times, but that’s not the end.

“This support subsidy will be paid until the end of January, as the December payments are still being made. We anticipate that the amount could rise to 630 million. As planned,” said I. Balnanosienė.

He explained that such “after downtime” benefits will no longer exist this year, and during downtime employees will be paid more – instead of 90%, 100% will be paid. salary, but not more than € 963.

Most of the companies that reported downtime requested support from the Employment Service in April and May. However, post-downtime payments were mostly requested already in the summer months.

The members of the Seimas intend to remain interested in “if here there are no easy sums to divide by hand”.

Named abused

The head of the Employment Service (OCT) presented the members of the Seimas at least 7 ways in which companies, manipulating legal acts, used support that did not belong or increased. He explained that he is currently learning from mistakes.

“We are evaluating the potential for abuse and looking for truly focused and specific solutions. One possible abuse is that companies can increase wages or hire employees and put them immediately into downtime,” began I. Balnanosienė to name the ways to receive money.

He mentioned that some companies did not pay salaries (DU) despite receiving subsidies.

“Despite the fact that the company receives a subsidy, there is a delay in the settlement of accounts with the employees, because the companies covered their other operating costs; such violations occurred especially at the beginning of the period. Communication with commercial representatives and commercial structures helped a lot here, because this problem has really diminished through advertising ”, said I. Balnanosienė.

Another way is to work during downtime. Employers have come up with the idea of ​​creating “win-win situations” where an employee is paid for their work and employees have no interest in reporting the misuse of allowances.

“We are really cooperating very closely with the SLI, and already during the first quarantine we reacted quickly and contacted the companies to suspend or return the support,” says the head of the Employment Service.

Businesses have come up with the idea of ​​even setting such wages (DU) to get as much support as possible.

“The depleted uranium rose to such a level that there was even 30 percent left. The aid paid for the intensity was the maximum amount of the subsidy. An amount of 963 euros was paid per certain employee,” said I. Balnanosienė.

Employers even took employees off vacation to take advantage of subsidies. There have been cases where the hire date has changed. Employers also tried to take advantage of subsidies for workers who were granted incapacity for work.

“Foreigners were hired and put on downtime, even though they did not have permission to live or work in Lithuania. (…) It was not the employer who paid the salary but another company,” continued I. Balnanosienė.

The head of the service provided a new sanction for employers: if violations are found, they would be without benefits for a year.

“If violations are found, then the employer within 2 months. he has to return the funds related to that person in particular, and another condition is that he can no longer request the support of another state, that is, receive subsidies for a year for the infraction detected ”, explained the head of the OCT.

The Seimas members questioned the meaning of the support

And other Seimas members questioned the logic of the subsidies after the downtime.

“We see that the number of companies that received subsidies during downtime is less than the number of companies that received subsequent subsidies during downtime; how can companies apply for subsidies after downtime if they did not register during the time? of inactivity “, surprised J. Razma.

The OCT director explained that there were two additional conditions for receiving support: if the company was found to be affected or if its activities were included in a special list of companies engaged in green economy activities.

“Even in terms of money, 180 million was paid during the downtime. 550 million euros after the downtime. Euros. This is really a lack of logic,” said Zigmantas Balčytis, chairman of the committee.

Farmer Laima Nagienė pointed out that the subsidies were received by water supply companies or waste haulers.

“I can’t understand in any way, the water supply companies got the support anyway, so what don’t we take out of the garbage, don’t we supply? So what kinds of businesses here could have expected this subsidy? Even some educational institutions received subsidies, ”L. Nagienė was surprised.

The head of the Employment Service reported that 10 investigations have already been completed in which irregularities have been identified: 4 companies have returned the subsidies, one has filed a lawsuit and does not agree, 3 companies have already signed requests for return in stages .

You want to identify those responsible

Rasa Budbergytė, vice chairman of the Audit Committee, harshly criticized the state’s decision to spend millions.

“I see not only a lack of logic in this whole matter, but I would like very much to know the real reasons why and how the mechanism by which such provisions were formed in the Employment Law was built. How the Government built them, that post-state subsidies appear according to the list available to the CTI, and in addition, there is a list prepared by two ministers of companies committed to greening the economy in transformation in various ways, “he said R. Budbergytė.

According to her, it should be explained to the Seimas committee how such an expensive measure was constructed,

“Why has this problem not been avoided for so long? Just to say that it was an inaccurate measure, as a member of the audit committee, I am personally not satisfied,” said R. Budbergytė and assured that he wanted to know if the decisions that had returned to the state with heavy losses were not overlooked.

The Seimas Audit Committee agreed to send questions to the institutions and hold second hearings accordingly.

“We have a very high tolerance in the state, or because of the lack of logic, or, let’s not look to the past, let’s look to the future. (…) After the end of his mandate due to the change in political power, the Vice Minister finds a very warm refuge in the business confederation ”, R. Budbergytė was surprised.

Deputy Minister: “when there is a fire, I don’t see where to pour it”

The Deputy Minister of Social Security and Labor, Vytautas Šilinskas, assured that he did not support the promotion measure not for employees but for employers, but he justified the previous decisions “fighting the fire.”

“I personally criticized it as inapplicable before joining me and one of the first decisions was that we did not continue with this measure. We have also strengthened our responsibility, anticipating who works downtime and commits a violation; they must return not only the amount for the person for whom the violation was established, but also in order not to receive downtime allowances in the future, ”explained V. Šilinskas.

According to him, the main problem with subsidies “after downtime” is not abuse.

“There were enough free criteria to receive support and many companies just used it,” says V. Šilinskas.

However, he stressed that Seimas himself had foreseen and enshrined this measure in law, and Lithuania was not the only country in Europe that had applied such a measure.

“I see that when there is a fire, it spills and I don’t see how much the furniture gets wet. Here it is also similar ”, compared V. Šilinskas.

The Vice Minister assured that similar measures have been criticized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, for being costly for the member states.

“It is not a bad thing, it helps to save jobs. But it is very expensive, we also saw it in Lithuania, and it was probably the most expensive tool we gave it during the first quarantine. To date, there are no such measures, there are no plans to renew them “, assured V. Šilinskas.

However, the Seimas members explained that it is important to know all the circumstances to learn from the mistakes of the future.