Jobsplus’ enforcement powers are held back by a lack of investigators and a “lax attitude towards compliance”, the Auditor General said in a report published on Monday.

The report looked into the performance of Jobsplus’ enforcement arm, known as the Law Compliance Unit.

The unit is tasked with handing out penalties for several breaches of Malta’s employment laws, including working or employing someone without a licence, employing underage workers, and not following administrative procedures.

In his report, the Auditor General noted that although Malta’s working population had grown significantly in recent years, the number of on-the-ground inspectors employed by Jobsplus remained largely the same, with a total of 12 officials across the audit team - eight of whom are inspectors.

Despite Jobsplus’ claims that this number was sufficient, it was unable to provide any studies to back this up, the Auditor said.

This, the report says, raises doubts over whether the team can cover all of Malta’s labour market, since “some cases of irregular employment can only be detected through on-the-ground inspections”.

“Lenient approach” over whether penalties are enough

The report also questions whether the penalties, which were last increased in 2019, are enough to deter abuse.

According to the Auditor, the fact that more infringements are being detected shows that current penalties are not enough.

While in 2019 27% of interviews into potential cases were found to result in an infringement, this has now almost doubled to 49%.

Currently, the fine for employing a foreign person without a permit is between €2,500 and €5,000, while that of employing a minor ranges between €1,000 and €5,000.

The Auditor was also critical of Jobsplus’ practice of allowing a 10-day grace period before enforcing penalties for some infringements, allowing culprits to rectify their situation without facing any punishment. This is also the case for repeat offenders.

These infringements include cases of employment not being registered with Jobsplus or the entity not being notified about the termination of a job, however, it does not apply to “non-rectifiable offences”, such as the employment of minors.

More broadly, the report found the unit to show little “disposition towards change”, citing the reluctance of inspectors to work outside traditional office hours as an example.

Despite understanding that inspections into illegal employment may sometimes need to take place outside of working hours, inspectors are generally unwilling to agree to a shift-based schedule being introduced, as this would represent a “significant change in their working practices”.