The Labour Inspectorate, tax offices and voivodship labour offices have announced thorough inspections of employers who have applied for financial support to cover employee remuneration on account of a decline in their business due to COVID-19. 

Government officials will check whether the decline in business has been determined correctly, whether the occurrence of COVID-19 was in fact the cause therefor and whether the amount of financial support was calculated correctly. In practice, the method of its computation generates the largest number of questions, especially during the preparation of Excel spreadsheet to make that calculation.

Doubts pertain, among other things, to the computation of the salaries that are to be subject to financial support, giving consideration to the salary components a given employer pays and the calculation of the salary for the month prior to the submission of the application when employees drew allowances for several days, including COVID-related allowances.

In respect to applications filed prior to Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0, what will be checked is whether the employers in fact reduced the working time of employees or applied down time. The working time schedules and the records of employees’ working time as well as the payroll are to be checked. For it may turn out that the reduction of working time was fictitious as employees were paid additional amounts as well as their salaries and overtime throughout the term of financial support. Working time records may also be checked with respect to applications for financial support under Anti-Crisis Shield 4.0. Government officials may wish to ascertain whether or not down time was in fact applied to this group. 

Government officials have stated that how the funds received were used will also be checked.

The consequences of any possible violations discovered during inspections may be far-reaching: an obligation to reimburse all the financial support received plus interest and criminal liability of the person who submitted the application for making a false statement or concealing the truth. 

It would be worthwhile to check all the documents and calculations that will be subject to inspection to be well prepared for an inspection.

More in the HR law newsletter - PRO HR August 2020.