PostNL could face €24 million fine in Belgium for allegations it sidestepped labor laws

The Public Prosecution Service in Belgium has recommended a fine of 24.4 million euros against the Belgian branch of PostNL. The prosecutor alleged that two units within the company, PostNL Cargo and PostNL Packages, have used staff from a third party in an unlawful way. Employees of other companies were called upon, but PostNL had the most authority over them.

Depots owned by PostNL Belgium were raided in connection with Belgian authorities' investigation into the company's alleged missteps. The chief executive officer there, Rudy van Rillaer, was briefly taken into custody after the raids.

Central to the prosecutor's case is the deal that PostNL Cargo and PostNL Pakketten made with 220 subcontractors. Belgian law has strict rules regarding these service agreements, which need to be clearly written with very detailed instructions that a staffing agency can give to the relevant workers. The prosecutor referred to a ruling from the country's highest court, the Court of Cassation, regarding this. The prosecutor argued that the court ruled an agreement is "illegitimate" when such conditions are not met.

These agreements were not sufficient to be regarded as valid under Belgian law, according to the prosecutor. With that, PostNL was operating illegally, the prosecutor said, making repeated reference to Article 31 of the country's Uitzendarbeidswet, the law governing temporary employment. This stipulates that companies are prohibited from "making employees available to third parties who use these employees and exercise any part of the authority over them that normally" would be the employer's responsibility.

PostNL responded by saying that the subcontractors with whom they cooperate run their businesses independently and direct their employees themselves. The company disagreed with the prosecutor's accusations. "We are a company that takes good care of the people who work with or for us," PostNL said 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."

The prosecutor maintained that PostNL had control over the subcontractor's employees, and not over the subcontractors themselves. In this way, PostNL Belgium had a great deal of influence over the recruitment and selection of the drivers, a situation that even involved the parent company from the Netherlands.

The prosecutor said that deciding on the suitability of staff is a job for the subcontractor with whom the employee has a labor contract. In addition, the prosecutor said that PostNL spoke to employees directly when services were not performed correctly rather than to the subcontractor. But if it were up to the Belgian Public Prosecution Service, PostNL as a client could have merely served a notice of default to a company and, if necessary, chosen to terminate the agreement with the subcontractor.

PostNL earned a profit of 56 million euros last year.