The number of reported incidents in which employers broke labour laws increased by a quarter in 2013 to almost 9,000. A total of approximately 24,000 checks were carried out by inspectors and the overall fines that companies received for their wrongdoing reached more than €5 million.
Labour, Social Affairs and the Family Ministry State Secretary Ondrus referred to this as to “the devastation of working conditions” in which employees are treated as ‘modern-day slaves.’ The SME daily quotes Ondrus saying that many employers have taken advantage of the economic crisis and higher unemployment to turn the screw on their staff. He is backing his statements by the results of a recent OECD study, which put Slovakia among the worst five member states in all the categories surveyed, among them salary levels, job security and working relations. Miroslava Skickova from the National Labour Inspectorate stated that the worst problem in this regard is the kind of contracts that new employees are required to sign. She noted that many unemployed people are willing to sign anything in order to secure a job. Another problem is that employees are expected to relocate without any financial assistance. Some firms refuse to provide confirmation of work performed to staff that they make redundant, while employees are often paid late or don't receive extra payments to which they are entitled.
