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- Ελληνικά
The Council of Ministers decided to strengthen measures to combat undeclared and illegal work, expressing the Government's will to combat this bad practice.
Undeclared and illegal work negatively affects healthy economic competition, smooth labour relations, the sustainability of the pension system and the management of illegal migration flows.
According to the available data, the extent of undeclared work amounts to 8% of the labour force, corresponding to around 40,000 workers, and entails a loss of revenue for the Social Security Fund estimated at €10,000,000 per year.
However, through targeted inspections carried out recently by the Ministry of Labour in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and the Police, an increase in these infringements in specific sectors of economic activity has been noted.
Specifically, in 2889 inspections carried out in the previous months at construction sites and enterprises, 7937 workers were checked and 1038 cases of undeclared and illegal work violations were detected, representing 13%.
The increasing trend of undeclared work is alarming and the Government is taking additional countermeasures to limit and substantially reduce it.
In particular, the Council of Ministers has decided on the following measures, which will be implemented immediately:
- Increasing the number of inspections carried out and targeting specific places and hours.
- Expanding the coordinated operations of the Inspection Service of the Ministry of Labour and the Aliens and Immigration Service of the Police.
- Interconnecting the available IT systems and existing databases to make use of data and information.
- Conduct a campaign to reach out to third country nationals aged 17 - 65 years old who are legally in Cyprus and are not identified as legal workers.
- Investigate the link between employers who practice undeclared and illegal employment of foreigners and traffickers of illegal immigrants.
- Conduct an information campaign on the consequences and impact of undeclared and illegal work in cooperation with the social partners and other relevant bodies.
In addition, the Council of Ministers decided on the following measures for which relevant bills will be submitted in order to make the appropriate legislative changes, following the necessary consultation with the social partners:
- Electronic census of all workers in the information system of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance.
- Imposition of an extrajudicial fine of €1000 for each case of undeclared work.
- Imposition of an extrajudicial fine of €1000 for each case of undeclared work.
- Inclusion of liability on the main contractor in addition to the subcontractor for cases of undeclared work.
- Doubling of the extrajudicial fine in the event of a repeat offence with a new case of undeclared work.
We call on all employers to comply immediately with the provisions of the legislation and to cooperate with the Ministry of Labour, taking advantage of the potential of the domestic human resources and workers who are legally in the country with legal access to the labour market, registering in the ERGANI electronic system the details of all the employers they employ, and paying to the Social Insurance Fund all the social security contributions due to them.
Undeclared and illegal work affects the public interest with multiple negative consequences, and the Government is determined to tackle it drastically.
This issue will be included in the agenda of the next meeting of the Labour Advisory Council and I am confident that with the support and cooperation of the social partners the results of this effort will be substantial and mutually beneficial for all.
(OP/NZ)
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