Coordinated controls of the Public Revenue Office and the State Labor Inspectorate, carried out in the past two months, have revealed that 26 companies broke rules of the financial aid scheme and irregularities were detected after 41 employers failed to pay salaries and minimum wages.
The findings from the controls were revealed Tuesday at a news conference by Public Revenue Office Director, Sanja Lukarevska, and State Labor Inspectorate Director, Jovana Trenchevska.
According to them, the joint controls were conducted throughout December 2020 and January 2021 of companies that applied for state salary aid for the months of April, May and June, and October, November and December after the Public Revenue Office making analyzes of companies using state aid by failing to pay their workers salaries for the mentioned months and the criteria under which the companies had undergone controls included the amount of aid, number of employees, delayed salaries for over a month, as well as reports filed by citizens.
“60 taxpayers underwent controls in December and January in the field of catering, construction, land transport, pipeline transport, retail companies, travel agencies, etc,” Lukarevska said, adding that 16 companies hadn’t met the requirements to receive financial aid in terms of revenue reduction; seven companies had reduced the number of workers more than what was legally required in the months after receiving the aid; two employers didn’t met the criteria involving revenue reduction and cutting the number of workers; and one employers had already paid back the aid after laying off workers.
Under the decree for salary aid scheme for the months of April, May and June and the legislation regulating salary payment in October, November and December, if employers fail to meet the conditions, they are required to pay back the financial assistance in full.
Employers who fail to meet the required criteria although pledging that they will by signing a statement will be fined under the Criminal Code. “The Public Revenue Office is cooperating with public prosecutors for launching criminal proceedings,” Lukarevska said.
Furthermore, Trenchevska at the news conference said that the Labor Inspectorate had conducted controls in 74 companies to oversee whether employers had paid their workers salaries and salary contribution according to the Law on Labor Relations and whether the amount was equal to the minimum wage in line with the Law on Minimum Salary.
Irregularities were detected in the operations of 41 employers.
They, she said, have been issued a warning to remove the irregularities.
“The controls are expected to produce preventative effect, which is evident after the number of irregularities have dropped following supervisions by inspectors in general,” Trenchevska told the news conference.
“Inspection controls will continue in the future and all those breaking law provisions will be sanctioned,” she pledged adding that the Labor Inspectorate and the Public Revenue Office will continue to conduct joint actions.
