Amendment to the Law to Cut Benefits for People in Material Need Is an Attack on Dignity, Says Amnesty International

The amendment to the Employment Services Act should also improve the integration of the most vulnerable into the labor market.

The Work Instead of Benefits project is intended to force “lazy people” to work. A person receiving a material need benefit will receive double this allowance if, in addition to activation work, they also find a job. If a person who can work does not accept a suitable job offer from the employment office in September, they will lose their material need benefit. Those who refuse work for the first time will lose their benefit for one month, those…

Amendment to the Act on Employment Services from the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family and the Rights of People in Need. Unemployed people could lose their material need benefits if they refuse an offer of suitable work. Amnesty International Slovakia drew attention to this and called on the members of the National Council not to support this amendment and to reject it in its entirety. "This proposal is a legislative whip on the poor…