The Ministry of Labor and Social Security intends to put a “brake” on undeclared or declared work with the extension of the Digital Work Card.

According to the ministry, the Digital Labor Card is an important tool in the “battle” to combat undeclared or undeclared work and the goal is to be universally applied to all branches of economic activity within 2024.

With the implementation of the measure, which has already started, phenomena of circumvention of employees’ schedules will be effectively dealt with.

The Digital Work Card is to be implemented gradually, as long as meetings are held with the representatives of the branches, in order to issue a guide for its use for each branch separately, taking into account the particularities of each case. Also, the ministry will regulate its application framework for employees who are employed outside the company or by telecommuting.

As the responsible minister, Adonis Georgiadis, has already made clear, retail trade and industry will be the next sectors to which the Digital Work Card will be applied, while, in the Autumn of 2024, it is planned to expand to catering and tourism.

In this way, an attempt is made to ensure the interests of employees by fully recording the actual working hours, to create the framework for effective controls by the Labor Inspectorate, to protect from unfair competition the companies that respect the law against those that apply practices “black” or underreported work and to secure the income of the insurance system from contributions.

In the event of a discrepancy between the actual employment and the relevant marking on the card, a fine of 10,500 euros per employee is imposed on the employer, whose Digital Card cannot be matched as above.

Where are the controls focused?

At the same time, intensive and targeted checks will be carried out by the Independent Labor Inspection Authority, in view of the festive season.

Inspections will continue and be intensified in the coming period, with the aim of complying with labor legislation, as well as ensuring both labor rights and the safety and health of workers.

Based on the planning, the controls are going to focus on branches that have long-term phenomena of high delinquency, but also on those that show increased work intensity, due to the holidays.

As competent sources estimate, the goal set in the operational plan of the Labor Inspectorate to carry out 66,000 checks in 2023 will be exceeded. This is also supported by the latest available data, according to which the number of checks has already reached 60,096 by October 2023.

According to the same sources, in addition to the quantitative increase in controls, their qualitative upgrade is considered extremely important, which is achieved by utilizing modern data analysis methods and the use of digital media in the field, such as online mobile devices (tablets). , with the main results being targeted controls, speed, transparency and immediate registration of results.

The commander of the Labor Inspectorate, Giorgos Tzilivakis, said: “In the time since February 1, when the Labor Inspectorate began to operate with full autonomy, we have managed to cope with operational and organizational challenges, having now created the basic infrastructure for the further development of the organization. At the same time, the audit work not only did not lag behind, but increased both in absolute numbers and in substance. This is due both to our new business plan and to the efforts of our frontline colleagues, who carry out their work with a high level of professionalism. The strategic decision to target controls, using data analysis tools, is already paying off, with impressive results in many cases.”

What the evidence shows

From January to October 2023, a total of 60,096 checks were carried out and 13,064 sanctions and fines were imposed, totaling €36,300,735.

In particular, during this period, the Labor Relations Inspectorate carried out 32,448 inspections (9,443 sanctions imposed), while 22,904 inspections were carried out by the Health and Safety Inspectorate, which imposed 2,755 sanctions, and 4,744 inspections were carried out by the Special Inspectors, who imposed 866 sanctions.

As can be seen from the analysis of the data, as far as labor relations are concerned, the types of violations most frequently found from January to October 2023 are non-observance of the employer’s obligation to post staff tables in a prominent place in the company ( number of violations: 3,120), undeclared work (number of violations: 996), failure to comply with obligations, formalities and other procedures (number of violations: 706), refusal of entry and access, provision of data or information or provision of inaccurate information (number of violations: 583), time limits for the operation of enterprises, work of employees, weekly rest, holidays (number of violations: 495), directly proven violations (359 cases), exceeding working time (number of violations: 213), etc.