The amendment to the Act on Labor Inspection and on the amendment and supplementation of Act No. 82/2005 Coll. on Illegal Work and Illegal Employment and on the amendment and supplementation of certain acts, effective as of January 1, 2024 strengthened the powers of the National Labor Inspectorate as a state budgetary organization headquartered in Košice, for whose activities the Director General of the National Labor Inspectorate—appointed and dismissed by the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, and Family of the Slovak Republic—is responsible. The expansion of the National Labor Inspectorate’s powers occurred in the following areas:
- Obligations of the National Labor Inspectorate to provide data on fines – The National Labor Inspectorate is required, upon request by public authorities, to electronically provide information on whether a natural person or legal entity has been lawfully fined for violating the prohibition on illegal employment. In practice, this means that an employer who violates the prohibition on illegal employment is entered into a central, publicly accessible list of natural and legal persons immediately after the decision on the violation of this prohibition becomes final. This list is available online at https://www.ip.gov.sk/ app/registerNZ/. Based on this, the National Labor Inspectorate will be authorized to provide information to public authorities regarding whether, as of a specified date, a natural person or legal entity has been lawfully fined for violating the prohibition on illegal employment. The disclosure of information to public authorities can seriously affect an employer’s reputation and goodwill, as well as the possibility of securing further potential business opportunities. It is therefore important for employers to comply with employment-related laws and regulations.
- Another change has occurred in the area of international cooperation, where the National Labor Inspectorate actively participates with other countries in international cooperation on labor protection, particularly in connection with the Slovak Republic’s membership in the European Union. These activities include cooperation in investigating, inspecting, and evaluating working conditions, as well as coordinating and ensuring the supervision of compliance with driving time limits, rest periods, and safety breaks, with the aim of improving working conditions and protecting employees’ rights.
- Changes have also occurred in the performance of tasks under a special regulation, pursuant to which the National Labor Inspectorate carries out tasks specified by the special regulation, thereby increasing its flexibility and ability to adapt to specific needs in the field of labor inspection. One such task, for example, is the obligation of employers to submit information to the European Commission for the previous calendar year regarding the number of inspections of illegal employment in individual high-risk sectors, which can be considered part of the monitoring and regulation of illegal employment.
The aforementioned strengthened powers of the National Labor Inspectorate under the amendment to the law, including the provision of data on fines and active participation in international cooperation, represent an effort toward greater transparency, efficiency, and global coherence in the field of labor relations, which could, in practice, positively contribute to an overall improvement in working conditions for all employees.
