The fines for those employing unregistered workers will increase substantially from €58 per employee to €500 as part of a proposed reform of the State employment agency.
Addressing a press conference, Employment and Training Corporation chairman Clyde Caruana yesterday said the penalty would then rise to a maximum of €2,000 per employee if employers took the case to court and lost.
“The fines are meant to act as deterrents against imposing precarious conditions on workers. They also seek to create a level playing field between foreign and Maltese workers,” Mr Caruana said.
He was unveiling a public consultation document, open for suggestions until May 25, which seeks to overhaul the ETC.
The fines are meant to act as deterrents against imposing precarious conditions on workers. They also seek to create a level playing field between foreign and Maltese workers
The proposed Jobsplus Act will seek to replace the laws currently governing the ETC and will see changes to, among other things, the way the unemployment register works.
Mr Caruana said the agency was set up 25 years ago and had only undergone “superficial and cosmetic” reforms since then. This rebranding was aimed at making the agency more attuned to today’s employment challenges, he said.
Mr Caruana explained that rather than having the current register for unemployed and a separate one for those who refuse to work or have been fired, these will be amalgamated into one list. This would have no impact on unemployment figures.
The proposals include putting the new Jobsplus agency in charge of monitoring employment trends, something currently done by a separate body.
The White Paper also maps out a job matching system.
This would do away with the current system of people listing their preferred jobs and would instead list their skills, experiences and qualifications to best pair them with a potential employer.
Mr Caruana said the reform would try and encourage people to seek employment. After three months of registration without signing up for any State training, registrants would be struck off the list for six months.
“We want people to want to work,” Mr Caruana said.
Even while they were registering, Mr Caruana said people would be able to work part-time for up to 240 hours a year, although these would still have to inform the State.
Returning to the issue of employment of unregistered workers, Mr Caruana said that daily inspections revealed that half of workers in the catering and construction industries were unregistered – the majority of whom were foreign. The reform would see the number of inspectors doubled from eight to 16. Inspections would now also be carried out on weekends and at night.
Education Minister Evarist Bartolo attended yesterday’s press conference. He said the reform had already been discussed with unions and employers and their input had been taken into account in the current document.
Mr Bartolo said the ETC had experienced a number of changes over the years, with roles changing from just an entity that registered the unemployed into an entity where people could find different employment opportunities.
JobsPlus, Mr Bartolo said, would also have the power to collect data on students leaving secondary school so that it could reach more unemployed youths.
He added that the corporation would also have the power to access disability registers and to inform employers, with the approval of those registered as disabled, if they had employees on the register.