Farmers won’t be pleased: the Employment Service proposes tightening up the rules on working with receipts

The Employment Service is proposing to tighten the requirements for work carried out on the basis of receipts: to digitise receipt books, to remove those working in this way from the unemployment registers, and to oblige employers to issue receipts immediately upon agreeing a job with the employee.

Gytis Darulis, Deputy Director of the Employment Service, put forward these proposals this week at the Seimas Committee on Social Affairs and Labour, where the situation in the labour market was being discussed.

“There is a slight lack of transparency,” he stated.

According to the Employment Service representative, it is difficult to monitor how much time people with work vouchers actually spend working: they are now being asked to do not only simple agricultural tasks, as was envisaged when the vouchers were introduced – raking grass or hay, collecting stones from fields – but also well-paid jobs.

“At the moment, we have situations where even for well-paid skilled work, such as tractor drivers and the like, work vouchers may be issued. It’s difficult to monitor. We spoke to the Labour Inspectorate and they said that when they arrive at a field, they can be seen from a distance, and employers issue that receipt on the spot – something they might not have done if the Labour Inspectorate hadn’t turned up. “It is quite difficult to regulate the number of days,” he explained to MPs.

According to G. Darulis, the receipt book should also be digitised – entries can be made in the paper version at any time: “That receipt book is only taken to ‘Sodra’ once a month.”

According to G. Darulis, registering receipts immediately upon agreeing on this form of work with the individual would allow the actual market situation to be monitored: “Perhaps we could consider that the receipt be processed – registered or reported to ‘Sodra’ – as is normally the case when a person is taken on – before work or the provision of services begins.“

According to the Deputy Director of the Employment Service, there is a noticeable trend of more and more people in the Dzūkija region taking up work on a receipt basis.

“In Varėna in particular, it has become apparent that all forest mushroom picking and berry gathering have somehow shifted to this method. Previously, seasonal or fixed-term employment contracts were drawn up. When there are no contracts, the process isn’t the most transparent, and length of service isn’t counted“ – he said.

G. Darulis suggests looking for ways to better control the limit on the number of days worked on a daily wage basis, as during that time the person is not removed from the unemployment register and retains their social security entitlements.

“As they remain unemployed, ‘Sodra’ benefits are not suspended. This raises the question of whether everything is as it should be. We believe it should be the same as in all other cases – that their (unemployed – BNS) status should also be suspended for that period (whilst they are working – BNS),“ – stated a representative of the Employment Service.

He also calls for changes to the provisions which currently allow a person working on a receipt basis to turn down a suitable job offer.

“Working on a voucher basis (– BNS) should not be a reason to turn down a suitable job offer, because at the moment we ring someone up and say, ‘Look, we’ve got a suitable job offer for you’, and they say: ‘Thank you very much, but I’m busy at the moment; please come back another time’,” said G. Darulis.

According to him, between January and May this year, just over a thousand people reported working on a receipt basis to the Employment Service, mostly from the districts of Varėna, Panevėžys, Pasvalys and Kėdainiai. Over the course of a year, there are around 6–7 thousand such workers, half of whom are older people.

When working under the voucher scheme, people retain their unemployed status and receive social assistance, whilst their employers pay only a health insurance contribution of just under 7 per cent.

Workers can only be hired on a service voucher basis in agriculture and forestry. You may work for one employer on a service voucher for no longer than two months per year, and for two employers – up to three months. In any other case, an employment contract must be drawn up. If, whilst working under a service voucher, a person provides services worth more than 1,750 euros per year, they pay 15 per cent income tax.

Working on a receipt basis was legalised in 2013.