GPS Fined
The controversial hotelier Fernando Ferré, owner of Grupo Playa Sol (GPS) has been fined a total of €3,982,000 by the Social Security department for irregularities in the contracting of numerous workers at his hotels. The fine comes after numerous visits to six of Ferre’s hotels which included San Remo, Costa Sur, the Maritimo, the Nautilus, all of which are in Cala de Bou, as well as the Mare Nostrum in Playa den Bossa. This is in addition to several visits to the company’s headquarters on the outskirts of Ibiza Town.
€2.1 million of the total fine is in relation to 71 cases uncovered, in which GPS had illegally placed workers on self-employment (autonomo) contracts, when they did not have permission to be working as such.
The rest of the fine, €1,872,901, was given for not registering around 300 workers brought from Eastern Europe with the Social Security office. GPS contracted the workers via a Recruitment Consultancy in the Czech Republic, and all were registered to the social security system there, when they should have been registered in Spain. This is believed to have saved Ferre tens of thousands of euros in social security tax.The secretary of the Workers Union, UGT, Pepe Pedrido, said the sentence was a reminder to all businesses that illegal practices would be punished. He continued that GPS was not the only company who bent the rules, and encouraged employees to make official complaints if they believed they were not being treated fairly.
