Assistance on the Spot, Czech Republic

European Platform Undeclared Work

Title of the policy or measure (in

English)

Assistance on the Spot

 Case study/good practice

name

Assistance on the Spot – providing support to companies to avoid violations

of labour legislation with respect to bogus self-employment

 Country

Czech Republic

 Sectors

Business sector

 Target groups

Entrepreneurs/employers (direct)

Self-employed workers (indirect)

 Type of measure

Prevention

 Short sentence summarising

the measure

The labour inspectorate provides information and advice to employers who

are found to be (or are at risk of being) in breach of labour regulations with

respect to the bogus self-employment of workers. It assists companies to stay

within the law by informing (and possibly fining) employers who are not in

compliance with the law, informing workers of their rights, and supporting

and advising employers to avoid future violations. The provision of advice and

guidance is an integral part of the fight against illegal work in the Czech

Republic.

Background

 Background context driving

the implementation of the

measure

Through their inspection activities in companies, the Labour Inspection bodies

were made aware of the dependent nature of work being carried out for these

companies by so called ‘self-employed’ workers. Violations of labour laws have

been occurring by some companies that contract workers on a self-employed

basis but who are effectively employees of these companies since they are

carrying out regular, repetitive and long-term work for a company.

 When was the measure

implemented? (including start

date and end date/ongoing)

From 1 January 2012 – ongoing

 Names(s) of

authorities/bodies/organisatio

ns involved

State Labour Inspection Office

 Scope of the measure (a pilot

project, nationwide, regional

wide)

National

 Type of (policy) measure

A tool/approach to inspection activities in the newly acquired field of

competence of the State Labour Inspection Office (i.e. legality of employment

inspections) that was implemented in 2012.

 Key objectives of the measure

General objective:

- increasing general awareness of labour regulations among both employers

and employees/workers.

Specific objectives:

- prevention of bogus self-employment

- awareness raising

- protection of worker rights and entitlements

Specific measure

 Description of how the

measure operates in practice

The measure operates in the following way:

 Following an inspection by the Labour Inspectorate, if a company appears

to be engaged in bogus self-employment, the relevant contracts are

identified, the relevant workers performing work based on such contracts

are directly contacted and given an explanation of their rights.

 Provision of advice by labour inspectors to both the company and workers

is no guarantee that they will not be fined if this type of violation has

occurred. However, it is hoped that they will be less likely to engage in

similar behaviour in the future.

 Which groups are targeted by

the measure?

- employers (direct)

- workers involved in bogus self-employment (indirect)

 What resources and other

relevant organisational

aspects are involved?

The presently discussed activity has been implemented as an integral part of

inspections focusing on combatting illegal work. Nowadays, 190 inspectors

(i.e. legality of employment specialists) are involved in this activity.

 What are the source(s) of

funding?

National funding

Evaluation and outcome

 Has the measure achieved its

objectives?

This practice has not been assigned measurable objectives or metrics. It is a

service to public, which has an educational/information impact. It should be

stressed that provision of consultations and prevention are efficient tools in

combatting illegal work.

 Assessment method (including

indicators used to measure its

impact), and the outputs and

outcomes achieved

The expected outcomes of ‘Assistance on the Spot’ include the following:

 Decreasing rates of bogus self-employment

 Greater social and health insurance contributions

Labour Inspection bodies provided in total approximately 16 000 instances of

consultation to public (employers/employees).

This practice has not been assigned measurable indicators. Therefore, there

is no information available of this kind.

 What are lessons learnt and

the key conditions for

success?

Lessons learnt and success factors include the following:

 the importance of starting at the bottom, or entering into contact with the

shop-floor employees first and taking their written statements at an early

stage of inspections. This bottom-up approach allows the information

collected in this manner to be compared with what the company

representatives have to say.

 it is important that both the inspectorate and the employer have a full

understanding of the rules and allow themselves appropriate amount of

time to inform themselves of the same

 Level of transferability (e.g.

other

countries/groups/sectors)

 Where information on the existing rules is inadequate, an explanatory

campaign of individual rules is necessary

 Ensure the existence of a legal definition of the term “dependent work”

and its features

Additional information

 Contacts

Jiří Macíček, Deputy inspector general and Director of inspection activities,

State Labour Inspection Office of the Czech Republic

Email: jiri.macice[email protected]

Telephone: +420 950 179 102

 Sources

 Metadata and key words for

online search

Czech Republic; bogus self-employment; employment rights; workers’

rights; counselling; business support;