Between January and September 2010, the General Labour Inspectorate (GLI) carried out 35 500 inspections, said Sunday GLI Director Rossitsa Mihailova in Stara Zagora, Southern Bulgaria. Mihailova opened a three-day national meeting on "Trends and Measures in Labour Inspection under Crisis".

The checks have been examining the terms of service contracts, occupational safety and whether the companies comply with the Employment Promotion Act.

Some 27 000 companies have been checked and 159 533 labour violations have been found, resulting in nearly 8 million leva in fines.

In mid-June, a large-scale campaign was launched, checking terms of employment, pay, and working hours. Checks are run jointly with the National Revenue Agency and the National Social Security Institute.

Some 10, 429 businesses have been checked so far, and 12 263 violations have been found.

Over 77 million leva in back wages have been paid out as a result of the checks.

Source: BTA