According to reports in the Netherlands, the huge fine is a result of Dutch legislation that determines that only the company who employed someone illegally be punished, but also those companies it has a direct relationship with – including subcontractors.
As a result, the total sum of the financial penalty is €828,000 – despite the fine for the direct employer only being €8,000 per employee (€288,000).
As ad.nl writes, three companies that employees were subcontracted to will receive fines of €68,000, €128,000 and €56,000 euros respectively. One of the subcontractors was also fined €37,000 for violating the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act. In total, the fines for all of the companies involved reaches €828,000.
The violations took place in 2019. However, fines were only recently imposed by the Inspectorate, because a fine report had to be drawn up first and legal experts had to consider it.
PostNL said in a statement that it no longer cooperates with the company that hired the aforementioned workers illegally. In order to avoid a repeat, its procedures are also to be examined and tightened in consultation with the Dutch Labour Inspectorate.
The companies that have been fined can still lodge an appeal with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment in the Netherlands, as well as the country’s administrative court. PostNL says it still considering such a move.
Photo: crash71100 /Flickr / CC0 1.0
