Update 2 | Is-Suq Tal-Belt Owners Distance Themselves From Illegal Worker Investigation
The owners of Is-Suq Tal-Belt have distanced themselves from an investigation by national employment agency JobsPlus, which found that 31 employees were working there illegally.
JobsPlus chairman Clyde Caruana told Lovin Malta that 31 staff of the new Valletta food market – 17 EU nationals and 14 third country nationals – were found to be working off the books during a random inspection on 27th February. It is unclear which establishments the 31 employees were working for.
“This is normal for us. Whenever we conduct a random inspection on a workplace, we usually find that 40-50% of its workers are not regular employees,” Caruana said. “The market is what it is and every employer is desperate for workers. The numbers might sound shocking at face value, but we expect to find them whenever we conduct inspections.”
In a statement, the Arkadia Group (which owns the food market) said only three of the people found to be working illegally were employed directly by the company. All three are students, seconded from ITS, who do not currently have the paper work in place as it is currently being processed by the authorities.
“We were not privy of the personal details of the non-compliant workers of its tenants and sub-contractors and as such learnt that there were possible misgivings today,” Arcadia said. “We will follow up to ensure full compliance, even though these tenants and subcontractors, were already bound by legal contracts to guarantee such.”
Employers found to be employing EU workers off the books are fined and forced to regularise their positions. Contrarily, third country nationals found to be working illegally are not allowed to regularise themselves but are reported to the police and deported back to their home countries.
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