Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Belgium’s Public Prosecution Service seeks a hefty fine of €24.4 million against PostNL for allegedly violating labour laws. PostNL refutes claims, citing adherence to regulations, amidst accusations of exerting control over subcontractor workers.
The Public Prosecution Service in Belgium has advised a fine of 24.4 million euros against the Belgian branch of PostNL.
What Allegations Does the Prosecutor Make Against PostNL?
According to NL Times, The prosecutor alleged that two divisions within the company, PostNL Cargo and PostNL Packages, have utilised staff from a third party in an unlawful way. Workers of other companies were called upon, but PostNL had the most control over them.
Depots possessed by PostNL Belgium were intruded in connection with Belgian authorities’ investigation into the business’s alleged missteps.
Who Was Taken Into Custody After the Raids?
The chief executive officer there, Rudy van Rillaer, was shortly taken into custody after the raids.
Paramount to the prosecutor’s case is the deal that PostNL Cargo and PostNL Pakketten made with 220 subcontractors. Belgian law has stringent rules regarding these service agreements, which must be written with very precise instructions that a staffing agency can give to the appropriate workers. The prosecutor directed a ruling from the country’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, concerning this. The prosecutor contended that the court ruled an accord is “illegitimate” when such conditions are not met.
What Do Belgian Laws Say About Service Agreements?”
These agreements were not adequate to be regarded as valid under Belgian law, according to the prosecutor. With that, PostNL was functioning illegally, the prosecutor said, making repeated consideration to Article 31 of the country’s Uitzendarbeidswet, the law governing temporary employment. This specifies that companies are prohibited from “making employees unrestricted to third parties who use these employees and exert any part of the authority over them that generally” would be the employer’s responsibility.
How Does PostNL Respond to the Prosecutor’s Claims?
PostNL answered by saying that the subcontractors with whom they cooperate run their businesses unassisted and direct their employees themselves. The company countered with the prosecutor’s accusations. “We are a company that takes good care of the people who work with or for us,” PostNL stated in response.
“We do that by working according to the laws and regulations, and that also applies to the delivery entrepreneurs we work with. We make clear agreements about this and will check on those.”
What Are the Prosecutor’s Arguments Against PostNL?
The prosecutor argued that PostNL had control over the subcontractor’s workers, and not over the subcontractors themselves. In this course, PostNL Belgium had a great value of influence over the recruitment and appointment of the drivers, a situation that even affected the parent company from the Netherlands.
The prosecutor stated that deciding on the suitability of staff is a job for the subcontractor with whom the worker has a labour contract. In addition, the prosecutor expressed that PostNL spoke to employees directly when services were not executed correctly rather than to the subcontractor. But if it were up to the Belgian Public Prosecution Service, PostNL as a customer could have merely served a notice of default to a business and, if necessary, chosen to conclude the agreement with the subcontractor. PostNL earned a profit of 56 million euros last year.
