The employee had received the wrong hourly wage for six years. She argued she had been incorrectly graded and was entitled to a higher hourly wage under the CLA for the fish-trade retail sector. Her claim for unpaid wages covering the period from 2014 to 2020 was granted.
Facts
The employer operates a sole proprietorship under the name Fa. Urker Vishandel. The employee has worked for the employer since February 2003. She argued that she had, for a long time, not been correctly graded, and sought to be placed in the correct job category. She also sought a declaratory judgment that her hourly wage from May 2019 was EUR 10.96, and payment of unpaid wages for the period 2014 through 2020.
Ruling
Regarding the declaratory judgment, the subdistrict court ruled as follows. From 2007 onwards, the employee should indeed have been graded differently and paid accordingly. However, from May 2019 she was not entitled to an hourly wage of EUR 10.96, but to EUR 10.72. This followed from the submitted CLA schedules.
The subdistrict court then held that the wage claim could only be calculated from November 2014. The employee had only formally recorded her claim in writing in November 2019, which is when the five-year limitation period was interrupted. She had consistently been underpaid by EUR 29.35 per month. Over five years, this amounted to EUR 2,788.82 gross. The subdistrict court ruled this amount must be paid to her. She was also entitled to the 20% statutory wage-delay surcharge.
Finally, it was ruled that she must also receive the correct hourly wage for 2021 and going forward.
This ruling shows that an employer must apply the correct CLA job-grading schedule to avoid a wage claim reaching back up to five years. Moreover, an employee with a wage claim is entitled to the statutory surcharge, which can run as high as 50%.
For the CLA for the fish-trade retail sector, click here (in Dutch).
For the full ruling, click here (in Dutch).
Questions about the above?
Please contact one of Sørensen Advocaten’s employment lawyers. Call: +31 (0)10-2492444
