Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1515242
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 31 JANUARY 2024 NEWS INSPECTORS tasked with investigating breaches of em- ployment rules have been adopting a lenient approach when dealing with certain in- fringements, a National Audit Office investigation found. JobsPlus has adopted a prac- tice not supported by law that affords defaulters a rectifica- tion period before imposing administrative penalties on employers for certain infringe- ments. The NAO established that this lenient approach is also afforded to repeat offend- ers. "This Office believes that such a lenient approach by the in- spectorate may passively elicit an overall lax attitude towards compliance with employment regulations from those within the local employer cohort who are so inclined, proving unfair towards those abiding with this legislation," the NAO said, adding the concern becomes even more pressing given that this treatment is also afforded to repeat offenders. This lenient approach is not adopted on infringements that cannot be rectified such as em- ploying someone who is un- derage without clearance from the education authorities. The finding is one of the more critical aspects noted by the NAO in what was an otherwise satisfactory overall performance by JobsPlus's law compliance unit (LCU). The NAO report was pre- sented to Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia by Auditor General Charles Deguara on Monday and subsequently ta- bled in parliament. Fines not serving as deterrent The NAO report calls for an upward revision of fines for employment infringements since the new higher fines in- troduced in 2019 do not ap- pear to be acting as a strong deterrent. The review showed that fig- ures of identified irregularities were substantial and resulted in an uninterrupted annual up- ward trend between 2019 and 2022. In 2019, 27% of individuals approached by JobsPlus as part of routine inspections or be- cause of suspicion they were working irregularly, resulted in infringements, with this per- centage reaching a significant 49% in 2022. "NAO notes that this indi- cates that the level of penalties is still not serving as an ade- quate deterrent to curb irreg- ular employment," the NAO said. However, the NAO noted it was a shortcoming of the unit not to assess whether the current penalties were set at a sufficient level for effective deterrence or otherwise thus providing no fact-based feed- back to policymakers entrust- ed with proposing legislative changes. The JobsPlus unit is com- prised of 12 officials, eight of whom possess an inspector's warrant. Inspectors are en- dowed with the legal rights required to carry out physical inspections onsite. At the time of the audit, the unit also em- ployed three desk investigators who worked on specific cases, primarily those involving third country nationals suspected of being employed without the necessary engagement form being supplied to JobsPlus. The staff complement at the unit has remained unchanged despite a rapid increase in the country's workforce between 2019 and 2022, the NAO not- ed. It added that most of the in- vestigations carried out were desk-based and inspectors were reluctant to adopt differ- ent work practices that allowed them to carry out inspections after normal work hours. Resistance to work outside office hours But while acknowledging that the overall performance of in- spectors was satisfactory, the NAO expressed concern at the resistance to adopt different working hours that would oth- erwise plug gaps in enforce- ment that could be exploited by defaulters. In its reply, JobsPlus top management insisted the cur- rent number of inspectors is sufficient and desk-based in- vestigations rendered their operations more efficient. The management said through the use of desk-based investiga- tions and the judicious use of big data, large amounts of infringements could be iden- tified through processes that are significantly less laborious than on-the ground inspec- tions. To this end, five desk investigators were engaged in the third quarter of 2022. However, Jobsplus' assertions that it had sufficient on-the- ground inspectors was not supported by formal studies or a needs assessment, the NAO said. "In view of the foregoing, this concern becomes particularly pressing when one considers the registered continual in- crease in the gainfully occu- pied population as well as the evident developing complex- ities and expanding parame- ters in the local labour market, which put inevitable strain on LCU's inspectorate capacity," the NAO said. It added: "While it is ac- knowledged that industrial relations could prove chal- lenging, having a relatively low inspectorate visibility out- side normal office hours is, in NAO's opinion, a serious cause for concern. It is therefore be- ing suggested that working hours of LCU's inspectors are adapted at the earliest so that the gaps created by this short- coming are addressed." JobsPlus lenient with employers that repeatedly flout employment rules - NAO KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt "It is paramount that any discourse surrounding the inquiry process refrains from engaging in personal attacks against the Judiciary purely to gain political mileage for an entity or individual."