Brunner/Kocher: Wage and social dumping must be prevented as far as possible

2023-07-01 05:00:27

Presentation of the main points in the control plan to combat wage and social dumping 2023 and report on controls 2022

Vienna (OTS) – Wage and social dumping means the underpayment of employees and non-compliance with social law provisions. To counteract this, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Federal Ministry of Labor and Economics have drawn up the control plan for 2023 and the report on the implementation of the control plan for 2022. Among other things, this ensures that the financial police have sufficient staff to carry out effective controls within the framework of the wage and social dumping control law.

“The law to combat wages and social dumping combats underpayment and enables fair competition between companies. This makes it an important instrument for protecting the domestic economy from companies operating illegally in Austria. Despite the lower number of cases compared to 2021, almost as many penalties were filed and the penalties have also increased. On the other hand, the number of cases of suspected wage dumping has fallen, which indicates, among other things, an increase in wage levels in the sending countries. Nevertheless, the control of employees posted to Austria remains the focus of the financial police, as it is important to ensure fair conditions for domestic and foreign companies,” said Finance Minister Magnus Brunner.

“As Labor Minister, it is important to me to combat wage and social dumping as best as possible and to ensure fair working conditions and fair wages for employees. That’s why we use an annual control plan to ensure that the financial police have appropriate guidelines for carrying out appropriate controls and investigating violations in this area. The focus of the controls for this year will be on the construction industry, the cleaning industry and the tourism sector, where of course the majority of companies act in accordance with the law, but violations have already occurred increasingly in the past. We ensure that breaches of the law are quickly uncovered and protect employees and companies that act correctly from wage and social dumping,” said Labor and Economics Minister Martin Kocher.

Fines of around 4.6 million euros applied for in 2022

In the previous year, a total of 218,764 employees were seconded to Austria. 266 foreign companies were suspected of being underpaid. A total of 1,153 companies were checked according to the LSD-BG, AVRAG and AÜG. According to the LSD-BG, 1,755 criminal complaints were filed, with fines of around 4.6 million euros being requested.