Parliamentary Oversight Calls for Stricter Controls on Short-Time Work
Published: Thursday, Oct 26th 2023, 10:01
Updated At: Thursday, Oct 26th 2023, 20:32
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Millions of euros in short-time work compensation have been paid out to particularly restricted companies during the Corona crisis. Parliamentary oversight has now concluded that the fight against abuse was incomplete and calls for stronger supervisory bodies.
The National Council's Audit Commission (GPK-N) described the short-time work in its report published on Thursday as a "suitable instrument in the Corona crisis". It welcomes the fact that the federal authorities intervened quickly at the beginning of the crisis to accelerate the payment of short-time work benefits to companies. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has adequately supported the implementation offices in the cantons.
The supervision must be strengthened, according to the GPK-N report. "Risks associated with the use of emergency powers must be better anticipated and the related supervision improved." The Commission bases its assessment on an evaluation of the Parliamentary Administration Control (PVK).
Complete the control quickly.
The Swiss Federal Audit Office (GPK-N) has found that the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) has not been able to adequately monitor the unemployment insurance funds due to insufficient resources. The agency has had to prioritize and postpone various controls on the unemployment insurance funds.
The top supervisory body - the Supervisory Commission for the Unemployment Insurance Equalization Fund - has not exercised active supervision during the Corona crisis. In general, the composition of this commission should be reviewed. Today, all the enforcement offices to be supervised are themselves members of this commission.
From the perspective of the GPK-N, it is essential to ensure that the ongoing checks on paid short-time compensation are carried out within the applicable deadlines. This is the only way to ensure that illegally obtained funds can still be reclaimed from the erring companies.
We are providing the following incomplete information to the Federal Council: __________. We kindly request that the Federal Council fill in the missing information in order to provide the public with accurate consumer news.
The GPK-N requires that data on disbursed funds and their control be systematically updated and evaluated for transparency purposes. The public should be able to see the proportion of cases of misuse and cases of unauthorized receipt.
The Audit Commission is calling on the Federal Council to investigate the deterrent effect of legal sanctions for abusive benefits. In the event of any future application of emergency powers, the government should also set out as soon as possible the criteria for lifting or extending the measures taken.
The evaluation of the PVK according to the report also shows that the information provided by the responsible departments and offices to the Federal Council during the crisis was partly incomplete. The economic risks and the risks of abuse were not systematically identified in it.
The rate of abuse is less than one percent.
The Supervisory Commission formulated seven recommendations to the Federal Council. The Federal Council can now take a position on this by the beginning of March.
The Swiss Federal Government has paid out 16.2 billion Swiss francs in short-time work compensation to businesses that have been particularly affected by the coronavirus crisis. Normally, all employees of companies with short-time work receive a maximum of 80 percent of their insured salary. In December 2020, the Parliament decided to increase the compensation for employees with low incomes to 100 percent of their salary.
As of August 2023, a total of 2241 reports of abuse have been received. Of these, 994 were deemed unfounded after an analytical review without an on-site inspection. Of the 747 reports that were further investigated, 81 cases of suspected abuse were brought to the attention of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research (SECO). Based on these figures, the current amount to be reclaimed is approximately 114 million Swiss francs - this is less than one percent of the total amount of short-time work compensation paid out.
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