2023-08-09 14:21:34
The Work inspection is redoubling its persecution of unpaid overtime and overtime. So far this year, it has filed fines for a total value of €9.1 million to more than 20,000 companies, according to data requested by EL PERIÓDICO, from the Prensa Ibérica group, to the Ministry of Labor. The work overload and the abusive organization of work times are one of the priority frauds in the action plan of the ‘labor police’ and, for the first time in decades, economic activity in Spain is picking up but not the ‘free’ overtime.
In Spain, every month they work 24.1 million overtime, of which 42% are not paid, according to the latest data from the INE. The ‘labor police’ have increased their actions by nearly 20% this year compared to the previous one and have doubled the amount of the sanctions. “It is a priority of the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy to monitor that the legislation is complied with the maximum rigor in this matter,” according to the department headed (acting) by Yolanda Díaz.
Historically, at times of GDP expansion, many companies took advantage of the surge and asked or forced their workers to stay a little longer to close orders or advance work. For this reason the data of the labor force survey (EPA) for the second quarter of 2023, during which a year-on-year rise in GDP of 1.8% was recorded, revealed a novel trend. The total number of overtime that companies get for free is going down. Specifically, 21% fewer unpaid overtime hours are currently being worked than a year ago.
The number of unpaid hours that the women overworked, posting a year-on-year decline of nearly 30%. This group has historically been one of the most vulnerable to pressure from superiors to work extra hours, since either they are concentrated in sectors where these practices are more common or they have more precarious working conditions that force them to greater extent to give in and stay out of your schedule.
Although in Spain there is an obligation for all companies to have a time record and compute each day how many hours their employees work, the regulations for the record of working hours reveal important gaps. According to the latest data provided by the Inspection, coinciding with the fourth anniversary of the entry into force of this law, half of the companies inspected did not pass the test in this regard. The small amount of the fines, which range from 751 a 7.500 eurosregardless of what the company bills or how many employees it has on staff, is a poor incentive to strictly comply with the regulations.
To improve these results, the Ministry of Labor launched last year the algorithm ‘MAX‘ (More algorithms for less overtime). This allows “allows automated minutes to be extended when the limit of overtime that the total workforce can perform based on the number of employment contracts they have” and thus “detect excess hours as effectively as possible”, as explained by Trabajo.
#Work #doubles #fines #unpaid #overtime #million #euros