Thousands of people remained inactive even after quarantine: labor inspection is preparing for inspections

About 7,700 employees are still inactive

Šarūnas Orlavičius, head of SLI’s labor law department, says the downtime situation has changed significantly after quarantine, but remains concerned that some companies have still declared downtime. According to him, from the announcement of the quarantine until July 1, the State Labor Inspectorate received more than 25,000 notifications about the announced downtime.

“We are seeing a decrease in the number of companies reporting downtime and, overall, a decrease in the number of employees in downtime.” In total, it can be estimated that from the announcement of the quarantine until July 1, the State Labor Inspectorate received more than 25,000 notifications of announced downtime. This means that 25,000 companies have informed the Labor Inspectorate that they have downtime. In total, there were around 200,000. employees who have been declared inactive.

Little by little, those numbers have been decreasing and decreasing as, as we know, the Government and the Ministry of Health have relaxed the strict requirements and on July 1 we have only, or maybe net almost 700 companies that still have existing downtime and almost 7,700 employees who have been declared inactive or partially inactive. The reason I say “single” or “even” is because we understand that operating conditions are likely to be fully activated for all service areas and it is possible to continue both production and supply, but some companies have still declared the time. of inactivity. therefore we objectively have the question whether there are objectively those downtimes or if employers really cannot provide jobs for employees, “says Š. Orlavičius.

There will be more inspections

According to him, and in the future he promises to inspect companies that are still declared inactive.

“Yes, we will check because we have a question of why. As far as we know, there are no prohibited businesses or services. Are those downtimes really related to quarantine and emergency? We have a question and we will look at it. The Labor Inspectorate the State will not tolerate the goal of making money from all of us and from the state, ”said the interlocutor.

When asked about those companies that have still declared downtime, the interviewee assured that there are several companies among them, from tourism to production.

“In regards to that list of published companies, it’s a variety of companies, and that surprised me. Let’s say from tourism to some type of production even. This has raised some questions, but we will certainly take into account and see the time of inactivity maybe objectively stated there. I really don’t want to blame anyone yet, but there is so much suspicion. “

Violations – in many companies

Several complaints were also received during the quarantine. Most of them were related to downtime, or the fact that they still had to work during downtime.

“We have been receiving complaints since the beginning of the quarantine, although I cannot say the exact number. Our statistics have not yet been able to generate everything, but during the quarantine we received complaints precisely about the downtime, as well as the fact that the Work was done during idle time.

And this is a serious violation that we cannot tolerate. We have carried out inspections of those companies and there certainly are not a dozen companies where irregularities have been found.

There have been cases where employees work during downtime. That means a dummy downtime has been announced to get money from the state, ”he says.

Checks are also waiting at the resorts

During the summer, more attention can be paid to tourist cities. According to the interviewee, individual inspections are already underway, and the greatest attention is paid to seasonal work and the employment of minors.

“During the summer, we can further analyze child employment, seasonal work, what work is being done and whether the requirements are met in our tourist cities: Palanga, Druskininkai, Birštonas and other places. Also, as I said, the companies that they are still in downtime they will be inspected, more precisely they have declared downtime for their employees. I still cannot say anything about the violations that I could highlight in a month, because there is simply no clear number of them, we can probably say so in late August or early fall. “

“But a bigger campaign is planned for July and August,” he added.