Director Bandić: We advise workers to take caution when taking employment in the Slovak Republic



The Labour and Employment Agency of BiH has been informed by BiH workers employed in the Slovak Republic about new cases of frauds in employment of BiH workers in this country.  “As Bosnia and Herzegovina has no employment agreement with the Slovak Republic, I advise workers from BiH to take special caution when taking employment in this country, considering in particular the fact that workers from BiH already complained last year about frauds in employment in this country”, said Muamer Bandić, Director of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH.

“When intending to work in another country, regardless whether there is an employment agreement with that country in force or not, it is of prime importance that workers contact the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH to find out what the working conditions in that country are.  I would like to remind that we are a member of the World Association of Public Employment Services and have mechanisms to check the working conditions in most countries of the world.  This is why it is important that citizens contact us before taking employment abroad, and not when the problem has already occurred”, said Bandić and underlined that employment procedures for foreign workers are equal worldwide: “The worker must first obtain an employment contract, then the employer takes care that a work permit is issued at his own expense, and eventually, the worker who has been issued a work permit and has an employment contract applies for a work visa at the embassy of the country of employment.  Once the work visa has been issued, the worker can take legal employment abroad.  All job placement services must be provided to worker free of charge and these may only be charged to employer.  If any of the previously mentioned has not been complied with, we are not talking about legal employment, but fraud.”

The Director of the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH reminded that a dozen of complaints about frauds in employment in the Slovak Republic were filed last year and that meetings were thereupon held with the representatives of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, the National Labour Inspectorate of the Slovak Republic and the Central Office of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic.  The result of these meetings was preclusion of certain private recruitment agencies from providing these services and intensified inspections of employers.  “The measures we took last year in cooperation with our colleagues from the Slovak Republic are still yielding results for we have been informed that the responsible Slovak institutions have intervened in new reported cases. The problem is the damage suffered by the deceived workers which is why I would like to appeal once again to all BiH workers intending to take employment abroad to first contact us for all necessary information. Useful information on employment in the Slovak Republic provided by the Slovak Ministry of Labour is available on our website (http://www.arz.gov.ba/nezaposleni/default.aspx?id=550&langTag=bs-BA) and more detailed information is available at the Danube Compass, an information platform which can also be accessed via our website”, said Director Bandić.