Lithuanian labour inspection finds no violations in parliament committee’s overtime work

The State Labour Inspectorate has concluded that no labour law violations occurred when employees of the Seimas Culture Committee worked overtime during discussions on amendments to the LRT law, BNS reported on Friday.

The inspection found that while four civil servants worked a combined six hours of overtime on April 13—two working two extra hours each and two working one extra hour—and two contract employees logged 11 hours of overtime between April 17–23, all extra work was properly compensated.

“No undeclared work was identified,” the inspectorate stated. “The overtime was due to an extended committee meeting, and the additional hours were correctly recorded, with employees receiving increased pay.”

Although written consent for the overtime was not obtained in this specific case—only verbal agreements were made—the inspectorate noted that written approvals had been secured for other planned overtime instances. Given the “exceptional nature” of the situation and the lack of systemic violations, no administrative penalties were imposed.

The investigation was launched in late April following a complaint about the April 13 meeting. Committee Chairman Kęstutis Vilkauskas previously stated that bureau staff who work overtime are compensated accordingly, with requests approved by their supervisor.

The Culture Committee’s conclusions on the LRT law amendments, finalised after 11 sessions on the matter, were endorsed by the Seimas this week. The 1,400-page document incorporated input from over 150 lawmakers, 15 organisations, and more than 40 legal observations from the Seimas Legal Department. A final vote remains before the amendments are adopted.