Labour inspectors found 22 firms in the Prešov region that have been employing some of their staff illegally in order to save money on taxes and levies but none of them were fined or blacklisted, according to the Hospodárske Noviny business daily. The law says that any company employing people illegally is to be fined and can be blacklisted for five years, excluded from all state-run tenders, and disqualified from obtaining any assistance from the state. The daily reports that the leadership of the regional labour inspectorate in Prešov decided to “sweep the cases under the carpet” to the dismay of some of their own employees.
The daily quotes Martin Mucka, owner of one of the companies caught to have employed people illegally, confirming that an inspection took place at his company in January 2012. "Only one employee didn't have an appropriately calculated salary according to his salary class. We sorted this out with the inspectors and dealt with the errors,” he said. The issue of why there were no sanctions involved has been forwarded to the National Labour Inspectorate (NIP), which is now due to carry out a probe at the Prešov regional labour inspectorate.
