The goal of the Labour Inspectorate is to ensure that every employee arrives home safely after each working day. To this end, labour inspectors visit different workplaces where they check occupational safety, occupational health and employment relationships, in order to prevent occupational accidents, avoid work-related illnesses and help create a safe working environment that respects all parties to the employment relationship.
One labour inspector goes to inspect a hair salon. While looking around the working environment, the inspector points out some deficiencies, photographs them and later records them in the Working Life Information System TEIS. In the self-service environment TEIS, which the employer can also access, an inspection report is submitted to the manager of the hair salon for information. In the report, it is explained that the employer has five days to examine the report and remedy some minor deficiencies where possible.
If the deficiencies referred to in the report cannot be remedied as quickly, the labour inspector issues a precept that outlines a deadline by which the deficiencies have to be remedied.
Is the precept a penalty? Although the word precept may seem harsh, it is actually an administrative act that grants an opportunity to remedy the deficiency over a longer period of time. To prove that a deficiency has been remedied, a photograph can be sent to the labour inspector in the TEIS environment.
However, there are cases where the precepts are not complied with within the given time. For instance, this was the case with the hair salon mentioned above. If the employer gives adequate and objective reasons for not remedying the deficiency, the labour inspector can extend the deadline. If, however, the situation is different and the business avoids further contact with the labour inspector, the labour inspector issues a penalty payment warning.
What exactly is a penalty payment?
Penalty payment is a measure for ensuring compliance with a precept, that is, a tool that the labour inspector can use to pressure the employer to remedy the deficiency specified in the precept. It is not a fine.
At first, the labour inspector warns that a penalty payment will be imposed if the precept is not complied with. In the event of continued non-compliance with the precept, a penalty payment is imposed and a new deadline is set.
The maximum amount of the penalty payment is 9,600 euros and the employer has 7 working days to voluntarily comply with the penalty payment. When this time passes, the labour inspector may immediately contact an enforcement agent who would then handle and collect the penalty payment. In most cases though, the first step is to contact the employer and determine why the penalty payment has not been paid and whether the penalty payment warnings have reached the employer at all. In some cases, the penalty payment warning is enough for the deficiency to be remedied. This means that no further action is required and the labour inspector can close the case.
It is important to note here that paying the penalty payment is not enough: the deficiency needs to be remedied as well. If the employer continuously fails to comply with the precept, a coercive measure can be imposed repeatedly. The purpose of it is not to punish but to ensure that the deficiency is remedied and things are put in order in the working environment. It does not matter how long, how many times or in what amounts the penalty payments are imposed, what is important is that safety is ensured in the workplace. Therefore, the proceedings do not end when the penalty payment is paid but continue until the deficiency is remedied.
The objective of the labour inspector is to ensure that the working environment is safe and healthy. When a labour inspector identifies a deficiency in your enterprise, there is no need to be afraid: drawing attention to an area of concern provides you an opportunity to make the working environment even safer and more comfortable for your employees. If remedying the deficiency requires time, unexpected events occur or you simply forgot to submit the necessary proof on time, you should notify the labour inspector thereof. Together we can ensure a safe working environment.