THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA official translation THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA LAW ON THE STATE LABOUR INSPECTORATE 25 October 1994 No. I-614 Vilnius (As amended by 17 April 1996 No. I-1289) nepilnai CHAPTER

1. General Provisions Article
2. This Law shall establish the objectives, functions, structure, rights, duties and responsibility of labour inspectors, procedures for inspections and work organizing of the State Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as “Labour Inspectorate). Article
3. The Labour Inspectorate is a state control institution functioning in the Ministry of Social Security and Labour. The Labour Inspectorate is a legal entity which possesses the seal comprising the States Emblem and its own name. The Labour Inspectorate shall be financed from the state budget. Article
4. In its activities the Labour Inspectorate shall observe the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, this and other laws, as well as other standard acts which regulate labour relations and job safety. Article
5. According to the confines of its competence, the activities of the Labour Inspectorate shall cover: 1) enterprises, institutions and organizations situated in the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as “enterprises”), irrespective of their jurisdiction and forms of ownership; 2) foreign capital enterprises which are situated in the Republic of Lithuania, enterprises in which a part of foreign capital belongs to a foreign investor (joint venture) and which are situated in the Republic of Lithuania, unless otherwise provided in international contracts; and 3) enterprises situated abroad (on the territory of foreign states), but which are under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Lithuania, unless otherwise provided in international contracts (agreements). The procedure for inspection of enterprises within the system of National Defence, Internal Affairs, State Security in the sphere of labour relations and job safety shall be established, upon the coordination with the said institutions, in the State Labour Inspectorate Regulations (hereinafter referred to as “Regulations”) which are approved by the Minister of Social Security and Labour. In certain objects the Labour Inspectorate shall not inspect those spheres of job safety the inspection of which is instructed to other specialized inspectorates. The sphere of competence of other inspectorates, government services on the job safety matters in the enterprises inspected by them, taking into consideration the instructions of necessary maintenance of potentially hazardous technical equipment, other standard acts of labour protection, shall be established by the regulations of insptectorates and services which are approved by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. CHAPTER
6. Objectives and Functions of the Labour Inspectorate Article
7. The main objectives of the Labour Inspectorate shall be as follows: to carry out the public job safety policy ensuring the prevention of job safety violations, occupational accidents and diseases; and to control the implementation of laws on labour and job safety, and other standard acts regulating these issues. Article
8. The Labour Inspectorate shall: 1) check the implementation of laws on labour and job safety (Laws on the Employment Contract, Labour Protection, Wages, Holidays, Support of the Unemployed, Collective Agreements and Collective Labour Agreements), as well as other statutory acts related to these matters. When checking the implementation of the Law on Support of the Unemployed, the Labour Inspectorate shall control if employers act in compliance with the procedure for concluding and terminating employment contracts as provided for in the said Law. The Labour Inspectorate shall provide findings to courts where disputes concerning labour and job safety are being settled; 2) consult and provide information to employers and their organizations, job safety services of the enterprises, employees, trade unions on such matters as labour, job safety, concluding and carrying out of collective agreements; 3) inspect if labour conditions used in enterprises, as well as working conditions meet the requirements of the standard acts, and how legal and natural persons follow the established procedure for maintenance of potentially hazardous machinery; 4) inspect how employees in the enterprises are provided with general and individual labour protection means, provision of medical adaptogenic preparations, also inspect if employers provide conditions for and request the employees who are required to have their health examined, to examine it at the established time; 5) in the manner prescribed by the Regulations: examine designs of newly created labour conditions, as well as labour protection means and present conclusions concerning conformity of these designs to the job safety requirements, issue permits to the enterprises for producing these means according to the test results of the samples of labour conditions and provisions for labour protection; establish the procedure for rendering services to the enterprises on job safety matters (training and testing, consulting, technical services), issue permits to legal and natural persons to render the said services; issue permits for the works of mining, blasting, extraction and processing of mineral resources, geological borings, seismic explorations, processing of flammable gas, chemistry, oil, as well as for technological processes during which cases of blasting, fire or poisoning are possible; present conclusions concerning preparation of training programmes for training and improving the skills of job safety specialists, for instructing pupils of schools of higher, high, vocational and secondary education in job safety; co-ordinate the preparation of rules and standard instructions in other institutions; 6) issue permits for the exploitation of new and reconstructed enterprises (their subdivisions), new techniques, to engage in new activities, participate in testing of employees and employers (persons authorised by them) on the job safety matters; 7) investigate the causes and circumstances of serious and fatal labour accidents, inspect if enterprises comply with the established procedure for investigation labour accidents, how preventive measures are implemented in order to prevent labour accidents and occupational diseases, provide findings to the officer of the state compulsory insurance against accidents at work in determining whether to recognise the labour accident as an insured accident, carry out other functions established by the Law concerning the state compulsory insurance against accidents at work; record accidents at work, generalize their causes and circumstances; participate in the investigation of occupational diseases and accidents; 8) provide information to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as reports to the Minister of Social Security and Labour about observance of the laws and other standard acts, which are assigned to the controlling competence of the State Labour Inspectorate, by enterprises. It shall inform the society about the observance of these standard acts; 9) keep a record of standard acts concerning job safety which regulate the issues assigned to the controlling competence of the Labour Inspectorate; and 10) carry out functions established by other laws, regulations and standard acts. CHAPTER
9. Rights and Duties of Labour Inspectors Article
10. The Chief State Labour Inspector of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as “Chief State Labour Inspector”), his or her deputy (deputies), chief labour inspectors of the departments, senior labour inspectors, labour inspectors (in this Law - labour inspectors), while performing functions assigned to them, shall have the right: 1) upon presenting the certificate of employment, to enter enterprises at any time of the day and to inspect if standard acts assigned within the competence of the Labour Inspectorate are observed; 2) to obtain data and documents (their copies, extracts) from the enterprises which are necessary for carrying out the labour Inspectorate functions; 3) to get explanations orally or in writing from employers, employees and upon investigation of labour accidents - from other persons as well, concerning violations of laws on labour and job safety and other standard acts which regulate job safety and labour relations, as well as concerning non-fulfillment of rightful instructions of the Labour Inspectorate; 4) to sustain the validity of permits specified in item 5 of Article 6 of this Law, when the violation of the activity, for which the permit has been issued, is established; 5) to give instructions on the projects of enterprises, their divisions under construction or reconstruction and designs of labour methods, when the arrangements planned in the projects do not meet the requirements of job safety; 6) in the manner prescribed by the Regulations: to ban production, advertising and realization of labour and labour protection provisions, if they do not meet the requirements of standard acts on job safety, are hazardous to people’s health and life; upon informing an employer, to take samples of labour means (raw material, products) for the job safety examination, to request that control measurements and laboratory tests of working environment, as well as examinations or special tests of labour and safety provisions would be conducted at the enterprise’s expense; 7) to notify the employer of the employees who do not fulfill the requirements of job safety; 8) within the competence to settle disputes between the employer and employee concerning the refusal of the employee to work on the grounds that job safety is not guaranteed; 9) to demand that the employer or persons authorized thereby, stop the works when: employees are not being trained to work safely, conditions for labour accidents and sudden poisoning may form or have already formed due to faults in machines or unforeseen conditions, the working environment becomes hazardous to health or life due to violations of technological or work processes, employees are not provided with necessary collective or individual safety provisions, it becomes clear that produced labour conditions would be hazardous to people’s health or life; 10) in the manner prescribed by the Code of Administrative Violations of Law, to impose fines on persons who violate labour laws, standard acts on job safety; and 11) upon arrival in the enterprise for investigation of the reasons of serious, fatal labour accidents, if necessary, to use the enterprise’s means of transportation and communication free of charge. The rights specified in items 4 and 6 of this Article shall be granted to the Chief State labour Inspector, his deputy and chief labour inspectors of the departments. Article
11. Labour inspectors must: 1) upon disclosing violations of labour and job safety requirements, warn the employer and obligate him to eliminate them, and in the cases specified in paragraphs 1, 2, 3, and 4 of item 9 of Article 7 - to terminate works and, if necessary, lead out employees from the dangerous zone, when the employer has refused to do so; 2) transfer the material concerning violations of standard acts on labour and job safety in the enterprise to law-enforcement institutions, if the said violations have resulted or might have resulted in serious labour accidents affecting people, or have other serious consequences; 3) not reveal state, commercial and technological secrets of enterprises, which they have discovered while discharging official duties. CHAPTER
12. Procedure for Conducting Investigations Article
13. The Labour Inspectorate shall establish periodicity, mode and volume of inspection. Article
14. The labour inspector shall notify the employer or person authorized by him of a planned arrival at the enterprise, if such notification does not impair effectiveness of investigation. The employer or person authorized by him must provide appropriate working conditions for the labour inspector, and if necessary, for specialists invited by him to conduct inspection. Article
15. The labour inspector may notify the employer (or person authorized by him) and representatives of the enterprise’s trade union of his arrival at the enterprise, who may participate (if they wish) in the inspection of the enterprise. Article
16. Upon having inspected the enterprise, the labour inspector shall draw up documents of the set form and acquaint the employer (or person authorized by him) with them. If they wish so, the representatives of trade unions shall be acquainted with the material of investigation. Instructions, requests, which do not contradict standard acts, shall be obligatory for the employer (or person authorized by him) and employees. CHAPTER
17. Structure of the Labour Inspectorate and Organization of Work Article
18. The structure of the Labour Inspectorate shall consist of the Board (central apparatus) and inspection departments (including territorial departments), if necessary and not exceeding budgetary allocations, other subdivisions may be established; the Minister of Social Security and Labour shall approve the establishing of such subdivisions at the proposal of the Chief State Labour Inspector. Separate subdivisions of the Labour Inspectorate may have the status of legal person or non-profit organization. Article
19. The Chief State Labour Inspector shall direct the Labour Inspectorate and its Board. The Minister of Social Security and Labour shall be empowered to appoint him to and dismiss him from his office. Article
20. The Chief State Labour Inspector shall: 1) organize the work of the Labour Inspectorate and be responsible for its activities; 2) act in the name of the Labour Inspectorate and represent it; 3) approve the rules of procedure of the Labour Inspectorate, official regulations of structural subdivisions and labour inspectors, and the list of Labour Inspectorate staff; 4) appoint to and dismiss from office, heads of departments and other subdivisions, and other personnel; 5) approve the list of enterprises in which the special job safety management and control systems need to be established in an obligatory procedure; 6) have the right to submit proposals to the Government of the Republic of Lithuania concerning termination and revoking of decisions of government and other state institutions, if they contradict the laws on job safety and other standard acts concerning job safety issues; 7) present necessary findings concerning technical conditions of labour methods and manufacturing production, as well as concerning construction standards and correspondence of the instructions of job safety to the requirements for job safety; issue orders in the established manner, approve rules and standard instructions for job safety prepared by the ministries and other state institutions; 8) have the right to participate in sessions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, when issues related to standard acts on labour and job safety and their implementation are under consideration; 9) consider claims on actions and decisions of labour inspectors; and 10) exercise other powers conferred on him by the Minister of Social Security and Labour. Article
21. The deputy Chief State Labour Inspector shall carry out the instructions of the Chief State Labour Inspector, and in the event of his absence - act as such. The Chief State Labour Inspector shall appoint to and dismiss from office the deputy Chief State Labour Inspector. Article
22. Chief labour inspectors of the departments shall direct the departments (including territorial departments) of the Labour Inspectorate. Article
23. Citizens of the Republic of Lithuania who have graduated from an institution of higher education, have special knowledge and are tested in the manner prescribed by standard acts, may work as labour inspectors. Article
24. Job skill requirements for labour inspectors, procedure for their training, improvement of skills and testing shall be established by the Minister of Social Security and Labour. Article
25. Labour inspectors cannot be members of the administrative bodies of state, stock, private business enterprises, perform other appointive or elective duties, work in other state or private enterprises or receive other additional payment, with the exception of remuneration for creative activities. Article
26. Funds of the State Labour Inspectorate obtained from services shall be transferred to the Labour Protection Fund of the Republic of Lithuania. Article
27. Expenses for examinations, which are set by the Labour Inspectorate and are related to the investigation of serious and fatal accidents at work shall be covered according to the procedure established in the Regulations by the enterprise in which the accident has happened. Article
28. Upon carrying out functions assigned to it, the Labour Inspectorate shall maintain relations and exchange information with other state institutions of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as with trade unions, employers’ organizations and similar services from other countries. CHAPTER
29. Responsibility of Labour Inspectors, Appeals against their Actions Article
30. The inspector shall be personally responsible for his official actions and decisions whereby any damage caused shall be compensated for in the procedure established by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania. Actions and decisions of the labour inspector may be appealed against to the Chief State Labour Inspector or to the Minister of Social Security and Labour, or to the court. The decisions of the Chief State Labour Inspector may be appealed against to the Minister of Social Security and Labour or to the court. CHAPTER
31. Final Provisions Article
32. Labour inspectors are civil servants and guarantees prescribed by the law, which are provided for the work in civil service shall apply to them. Article
33. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall resolve issues concerning establishment, reorganization of the labour inspectorate and termination of the activities thereof. I promulgate this Law enacted by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania President of the Republic Algirdas Brazauskas