Post NL Acquitted of Social Law Violations but Subcontractors Fined in Criminal Court

The Antwerp Criminal Court delivered a verdict on Friday, acquitting Post NL Holding, its Belgian companies, and directors of violating social laws against their employees. However, several subcontractors of parcel company Post NL were fined for similar offenses.

In the spring of 2021, large-scale inspections by social inspection services were conducted at Post NL depots. It was found that although Post NL employs its own staff for sorting parcels, transportation to customers is subcontracted to transport companies with their own staff and means of transport. Reports were drawn up by the inspection services after discovering several violations among these subcontractors, including lack of notification, missing contracts, work permits, etc.

Several subcontractors blamed Post NL for the violations they committed in order to continue working profitably. However, the labor auditor demanded fines against PostNL Cargo and PostNL Pakketten for interference in the internal business operations of subcontractors. Despite this claim by the labor auditor, the court ruled in favor of Post NL Holding, Post NL Cargo, PostNL Pakketten and their directors.

Around twenty subcontractors and their directors were fined in total. These fines were usually partially suspended after being discovered regularly. The court found no evidence that these violations were a result of contracts between postal service providers and postal service providers themselves.