A Lithuanian transport company has been fined 89,000 euros by the Inspectorate SZW. According to the Inspectorate SZW, the company did not provide sufficient data on employees' wages paid and hours worked. As a result, the inspectorate could not verify whether 15 truck drivers who worked mostly in the Netherlands were paid adequate wages.
The inspectorate launched an investigation into a transport company in Nijmegen in 2016. There, they found many Lithuanian drivers. A year later, an inspection was carried out together with the Lithuanian inspection at a company in Lithuania. The transport companies in Nijmegen and in Lithuania were found to have the same Dutch owner and major shareholder.
Drivers working in the Netherlands
According to the SZW, a sham construction was involved. The 15 workers allegedly signed an employment contract with the Lithuanian transport company. They then came to the Netherlands to work as truck drivers. Statements and investigation by the Inspectorate SZW show that the drivers received the assignments from the Nijmegen transport company. The driving assignments were given to the drivers on a daily basis and direction was also provided by the Dutch company. The drivers left Nijmegen with the trucks and in most cases returned to Nijmegen in the evening.
Fine for not providing data
The transport company believes that Lithuanian labour law applies to its drivers. However, the Inspectorate SZW believes that Dutch labour law should be followed, in which case the Minimum Wage and Minimum Holiday Allowance Act (Wml) applies. The transport company did not want to provide data on wages paid and hours worked. For this, it has now received a fine of €89,000. The company can still object and appeal against this fine.
