Last year, 2021, 1,590 companies were checked under the Wage and Social Dumping Act, with 1,808 criminal complaints being filed and penalties totaling 3.9 million euros being imposed. Labor Minister Martin Kocher (ÖVP) and Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) reported this at a press conference on Monday. There were fewer checks than in 2020, but the problem should not have gotten any smaller, said the head of the financial police, Wilfried Lehner.
Wage and social dumping is about the underpayment of employees or non-compliance with social security regulations. “This is of course a major disadvantage for those affected, but also for all companies and it disrupts fair competition,” said Kocher.
“The law to combat wages and social dumping is an important instrument for protecting the domestic economy from companies working illegally in Austria,” said Brunner. The financial police are responsible for the controls, they control employees who are seconded or hired out from abroad. The controls would be intensified, especially in the areas of construction and construction-related trades, transport and parcel service providers and in the food trade, according to the finance minister. In addition, there will be further focus controls on an ad hoc basis and on the basis of risk analyses.
Control even with short-time work
In the past year, 2021, the finance police checked 1,590 companies and thus well over 3,000 employees from abroad in Austria, according to the head of the finance police, Wilfried Lehner. 385 foreign companies were suspected of being underpaid, 1,808 criminal complaints were filed and fines totaling 3.9 million euros were imposed. A total of around 197,000 employees from abroad were sent to Austria. In 2020, around 183,000 employees came to Austria, 1,634 companies were checked and there were 435 suspected cases.
In 2021 there was less control than in the previous year, but the number of potential cases did not fall as much, “in other words: the problem tends to be the same,” said Lehner. One cannot give the all-clear, also because new types of fraud are constantly being added.
In addition to underpayment, the abusive use of short-time work is also monitored, says Kocher. Since April 2020, 14,000 companies with almost 40,000 employees have been checked for short-time work. 1,160 labor market violations were identified, mainly undeclared work and similar offences, and there were 320 suspected cases of fraud. In 2022 there have been 1,200 short-time work checks and 243 reports of suspected fraud.
Source: Nachrichten
