We assist clients in responding to requests from the Labour Inspectorate — whether to provide a statement or submit employment and Social Security documentation required by the Labour Inspector. We also draft appeals and complaints before the Labour Inspectorate.
Written by Josep Conesa
Employment and insolvency lawyer
THE LABOUR INSPECTORATE:
The Labour and Social Security Inspectorate is a public body operating under the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, responsible for monitoring compliance with employment legislation.
This monitoring function is carried out exclusively by officials belonging to the Senior Corps of Labour and Social Security Inspectors, which operates as a National Corps. Supporting and collaborative inspection functions are carried out by the Sub-Inspectors of Employment and Social Security.
FUNCTIONS OF LABOUR INSPECTORS:
Monitoring and enforcement of compliance with collective bargaining agreement provisions, covering the following areas:
· Organisation of work and trade union relations.
· Occupational health and safety.
· The Social Security system.
· Employment and migration.
Technical assistance:
· Providing technical guidance to company and workers.
· Offering technical support to Social Security bodies and organisations.
· Informing, assisting and cooperating with public administration bodies on the application of social regulatory frameworks.
· Issuing reports requested by the competent judicial bodies, within the scope of the Inspectorate's remit.
Arbitration, conciliation and mediation:
· Conciliation and mediation in disputes and strikes, where accepted by the parties.
· Arbitration, at the request of the parties, in labour disputes and strikes.
· The arbitration function is incompatible with the inspection function when carried out by the same person in respect of companies subject to their supervision and oversight.
In the exercise of these functions, Labour and Social Security Inspectors act in the capacity of public authority.
REMIT OF THE INSPECTORATE IN MATTERS OF Social Security:
The Labour Inspectorate is responsible for monitoring and enforcing occupational health and safety regulations. In carrying out this remit, Inspectors shall have the following powers:
· Advising companies and workers on the most effective way to comply with the provisions they are tasked with enforcing.
· Preparing reports requested by the employment tribunals in claims relating to work-related accident and occupational illness proceedings.
· Recommending the appropriate penalty to the competent labour authority upon finding a breach of occupational health and safety regulations.
· Ordering the immediate suspension of work where, in the Inspector's judgement, a serious and imminent risk to the safety or health of workers is identified.
SCOPE OF ACTION:
The Inspector's scope of action extends to all natural and legal persons, public or private, in which a working relationship exists or which receive Social Security benefits.
In particular, it is exercised in respect of:
· The company, workplaces and, in general, any location where the employment relationship is carried out.
· Vehicles and means of transport in general, in which work is performed.
· Ports, airports, departure points and stopovers in relation to emigration and internal immigration travel.
· Public or private bodies that collaborate in the area of social protection and welfare.
· Cooperative societies, with regard to their formation, operation and compliance with the rules applicable to their worker-members.
POWERS AND ACTIONS OF THE LABOUR INSPECTORATE:
In the exercise of their functions, Labour Inspectors hold the status of public authority and are authorised to:
· Enter freely at any time and without prior notice any workplace, and remain on the premises.
· Be accompanied during inspection visits by workers, their representatives, and by the experts and technical staff of the company that they consider necessary for the proper conduct of the inspection.
· Examine at the workplace, or require the production at public offices, of the company's documents and records relevant to verifying compliance with the applicable legislation, including books, registers, software systems, and similar materials.
· Take or remove samples of substances and materials used or handled on the premises, carry out measurements, obtain photographs, videos, image recordings, and take copies and extracts of documents.
· Carry out any investigative steps, examinations or tests they consider necessary to verify that legal requirements are being properly met.
· Adopt, at any time, such precautionary measures as they deem appropriate and proportionate to the objective pursued, in order to prevent the destruction, disappearance or alteration of the aforementioned documentation, provided that no breach of rights is involved.
Inspectors may require employers, workers and their respective representatives to attend to them properly, to verify their identity and that of any persons present in the workplace, to cooperate with them during visits or other proceedings, to provide statements before the acting official on matters relevant to the inspection, and to supply any information and documentation required for the performance of their functions.
It is clear, therefore, that the powers of the Labour Inspector are broad and have a direct bearing on the organisation and management of the company, without this constituting an interference with the company's organisational and managerial authority.
Initiation of an inspection:
An inspection may be initiated in any of the following ways:
1. By order of the competent Authority, whether from the Central State Administration or a Regional Government.
2. By service order issued by the provincial Labour Inspectorate headquarters or its specialist units.
3. At the request of any judicial body.
4. At the specific request of Social Security bodies.
5. On the Labour and Social Security Inspector's own initiative.
6. Following a complaint about facts allegedly constituting an infringement.
The right to lodge a complaint regarding a breach of social order <i
>is public and free of charge and may therefore be exercised by any natural or legal person. </i
INFRINGEMENTS AND PENALTIES IN THE FIELD OF OCCUPATIONAL RISK PREVENTION:
Infringements in the field of occupational risk prevention consist of acts or omissions by employers that breach the statutory provisions, regulations, and normative clauses of collective bargaining agreements relating to health and safety at work.
It is important to note that an infringement does not require that an accident or occupational illness has actually occurred affecting one or more workers — it is sufficient that the circumstances exist which gave rise to a breach of the rules to which the employer was legally bound.
In such cases, the Inspector must require that the breaches be remedied and, where the risk is considered imminent and serious, may order the suspension of work. In addition, infringements classified under the Act shall be subject to penalty.
Once an infringement has been classified, the Inspector must propose the amount of the financial penalty, within the statutory limits:
1.- Minor infringements:
· Minimum level: from €30.05 to €300.50.
· Intermediate level: from €300.51 to €601.01.
· Maximum level: from €601.02 to €1,502.53.
2.- Serious Infringements:
· Minimum level: from €1,502.54 to €6,010.12.
· Medium level: from €6,010.13 to €15,025.30.
· Maximum level: from €15,025.31 to €30,050.60.
3.- Very Serious Infringements:
· Minimum level: from €30,050.61 to €120,202.42.
· Medium level: from €120,202.42 to €300,506.05.
· Maximum level: from €300,506.06 to €601,012.10.
Infringements of occupational health and safety regulations become time-barred, calculated from the date of commission, as follows:
· Minor infringements: after one year.
· Serious infringements: after three years.
· Very serious infringements: after five years.
