The amendment to the Act on Labor Inspection and on Amendments to Act No. 82/2005 Coll. on Illegal Work and Illegal Employment and on Amendments to Certain Acts, effective from January 1, 2024, strengthened the powers of the National Labor Inspectorate as a state budgetary organization based in Košice, for whose activities the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Family is responsible.2024 strengthened the powers of the National Labor Inspectorate as a state budgetary organization based in Košice, whose activities are overseen by the Director General of the National Labor Inspectorate, who is appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic. The powers of the National Labor Inspectorate were expanded in the following areas:
- Obligations of the National Labor Inspectorate to provide data on fines – The National Labor Inspectorate is obliged, at the request of public authorities, to provide information electronically on whether a natural or legal person has been lawfully fined for violating the prohibition of illegal employment. In practice, this means that an employer who violates the prohibition of illegal employment is immediately entered into a central publicly accessible register of natural and legal persons, which is available online at https://www.ip, once the decision on the violation of this prohibition becomes final.gov.sk/app/registerNZ/. On this basis, the National Labor Inspectorate will be authorized to provide information to public authorities on whether, on a given date, a natural or legal person has been lawfully fined for violating the prohibition of illegal employment. The disclosure of information to public authorities may seriously affect the reputation and good name of an employer, as well as its ability to obtain further business opportunities. It is therefore important that employers comply with the legislation on employment.
- Another change has taken place in the area of international cooperation, where the National Labor Inspectorate actively participates with other countries in international cooperation in the field of labor protection, particularly in connection with the Slovak Republic's membership in the European Union. These activities include cooperation in the investigation, inspection and evaluation of working conditions and in the coordination and enforcement of the supervision of compliance with driving times, rest periods and safety breaks for the purpose of improving working conditions and protecting the rights of employees.
- Changes have also been made to the tasks performed under a special regulation, according to which the National Labor Inspectorate performs tasks specified by a special regulation, thereby increasing its flexibility and ability to adapt to specific needs in the field of labor inspection. One such task is, for example, the obligation of employers to submit information to the European Commission for the previous calendar year on the number of inspections of illegal employment in individual risk sectors, which can be considered part of the monitoring and regulation of illegal employment.
The above-mentioned enhanced powers of the National Labor Inspectorate, including the provision of data on fines and active participation in international cooperation, represent an effort to achieve greater transparency, efficiency, and global cohesion in the field of labor relations, which could have a positive impact in practice on the overall improvement of working conditions for all employees.
