According to the Public Prosecution Service, two departments of PostNL Belgium are partly responsible for violations of social legislation by their subcontractors. It is now asking for the acquittal for company executives, who were arrested two years ago.
The Belgian public prosecutor demands that two Belgian branches of the Dutch postal company PostNL (PostNL Cargo and PostNL Paketten) pay a total fine of 24.4 million euros. This was said in the court in Antwerp on Thursday during the plea.
The Mechelen Labor Audit Office filed the case in 2021, after the social inspectorate found several violations of social legislation during inspections in the parcel company’s depots, including undeclared work. According to the labor prosecutor, there was “structural social fraud” among PostNL parcel deliverers in Belgium, who work here as a subcontractor for the Dutch postal company.
The labor prosecutor then had several depots temporarily closed and an investigating judge was summoned. Three managers of the company, including the then CEO in Belgium, Rudy Van Rillaer, were arrested and had to spend a week in jail in 2022. The labor prosecutor went to court and received the support of trade unions, who filed civil proceedings, but asked for a postponement in 2022 to await the outcome of the judicial investigation. He finally made his plea on Thursday.
Interference
PostNL does not employ any parcel deliverers in our country and works with subcontractors who use their own staff and materials. According to the labor auditor, there is “far-reaching interference” by PostNL Cargo and PostNL Pakkett in the internal business operations of those subcontractors. For example, the postal company would exercise control over personnel policy and recruitment by subcontractors. The employees of subcontractors were also addressed directly about poorly performed services, while PostNL should have addressed the management of the subcontractor, the public prosecutor’s office said.
It speaks of “prohibited provision” and argues that the deliverers are actually employed by PostNL, which also makes the latter responsible for the established infringements.
Acquittal for top managers
The Dutch postal company, whose lawyers will be speaking on Friday, contradicts this. “We are an organization that takes good care of the people who work with and for us,” the postal company said in a response to the Dutch news agency ANP. “We do this by always acting in accordance with the laws and regulations and this also applies to the delivery companies with whom we work. We make clear agreements about this and we monitor this.”
Striking: the Public Prosecution Service is only targeting PostNL Cargo and PostNL Parcels. The public prosecutor requested an acquittal for PostNL Holding, the targeted subcontractors and the top managers of the Belgian PostNL branch.
