Parliament to discuss bills tackling undeclared work in September

Bills aimed to tackle undeclared work are set to be discussed in parliament come September, with unions and the government appearing to be on the same page on clamping down on the phenomenon.

On Thursday, Sek union general secretary Andreas Matsas told the Cyprus Mail “any regulation that aims to target this phenomenon is a positive one.”

According to Labour Minister Yiannis Panayiotou, undeclared work in Cyprus has increased to 13 per cent in the last year, up from eight per cent the previous year.

Of this, 25 per cent of undeclared work is in the construction sector.

Matsas specified another sector in which the phenomenon was observed is in delivery drivers however the collective agreements signed last month with Wolt should help clamp down on undeclared work.

There are currently three bills that seek to target the issue. One centres on mandating employers to use software that will keep records of all their staff, their hours worked and wages. This will be through the ‘Ergani 2’ system that also aims to put a stop to businesses illegally hiring asylum seekers.

The second bill allows for a €1,000 fine to be imposed every time an employer is found to be hiring someone illegally or have undeclared workers.

A repeat offence will see the fine go up to €2,000 the second time and €3,000 the third time.

Lastly, the third bill aims to instil fines when social insurance payments are not properly made – which goes in tandem with undeclared work.

Though the labour ministry was not immediately available to comment, Matsas said they were on the same page with the government over the bills which were approved by Cabinet last month.

“We are moving towards the right direction.”

He underlined that inspections are key to ensuring the measures are actually effective.