The Ombudsman on community employment

Press release:

The Ombudsman on community employment

(Summary of report No. AJB-4162/2012)

On the basis of the experience of the on-site inspections carried out by his working group Ombudsman Máté Szabó emphasised the problems related to the payment of the wages of persons in community employment[1], to the consequences of not participating in community employment and to the absence of training. Relying upon his preliminary report the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights has already formulated his recommendations to the local governments concerned as well as to the competent Minister.

In the first half of 2012 many citizens complained to the Ombudsman about their vulnerable situation and raised objections against community employment programmes organised by local governments. Several persons complained that indirectly they have lost their entitlement to welfare aid because they were left out or got out of the community employment scheme, and so – in the absence of other job opportunities – cannot provide proof of the necessary 30 days of work activity per year.

The members of the Commissioner's working group held talks with the local governments of four settlements (Jászkarajenő, Bátonyterenye, Gyöngyös and Mány) situated in four different counties and with the officials of the competent employment offices, made interviews with persons in community employment and established several improprieties concerning the application of the law and the relevant regulation itself. Among others, it constitutes an infringement of the requirement of legal certainty and of the right to due process that there is no fix schedule for the payment of the wages of people in community employment, advance information about the date of wage payment is incidental, and there is no precise procedure. Because of the contradictory assignment of tasks and contradictory requirements, obligations for training programmes are in general ignored, and necessary training courses related to national community employment programmes cannot be started in spite of those laid down in the relevant legal provisions, which is detrimental for the effectiveness of agricultural programmes.

In his report the Ombudsman underlines that both in the settlements where the inspections took place, and nationwide many people drop out of welfare aid through no fault of their own because they are unable to provide proof of at least 30 days of work activity per year. In the majority of the settlements affected by an inspection local governments do not have information about how they could organise voluntary community work and they are also uncertain about which documents are needed to certify work performed within the framework of simplified employment or domestic work.  

The Commissioner has prepared a package of recommendations related to the regulation in question and to the practice of its application, and he has sent this package to the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Human Resources and to the notaries of the settlements concerned. On the situation of community employment Máté Szabó Ombudsman has also organised a workshop in his office, for 3 October 2012, with the participation of experts and researchers of the government, local governments, trade unions and civil society.

Download

3 October 2012