A Sibiu woman who wanted to work at the Luca dealership, located on Mihai Viteazu street, accuses the employers of not respecting the law regarding working hours, the woman having to work 14 hours a day, four days in a row, in the fifth day unable to report to work due to back and leg pain. The employer says that he fully respects his obligations as an employer and which are provided for in the Labor Code. The ITM inspectors contradict them, however, after they were in control.
A 54-year-old Sibiu woman contacted the Turnul Sfatului editorial office to report that at Simigeria Luca, the location on Mihai Viteazu street, the law regarding working hours is being violated. The woman recounts the bitter experience she says she went through.
“I tried to get a job at Simigeria Luca, the location on Mihai Viteazu street, in the first half of February. Before February 12, I had a kind of interview with a lady Mariana in which she told me that I would have to work one day and stay at home one day and that I would have breaks during the program. I went to work on Monday, and a manager there asked me if I stayed the full 14-hour schedule. I was shocked and told him what that lady Mariana had told me, but he looked at me and told me that he thought I didn’t understand well. They called Ms. Mariana, who started saying that I didn’t understand well and that I have to come every day until Thursday to that 14-hour-a-day program. Because I needed work, I went, but on Wednesday evening Ms. Mariana called and told me to come on Friday for 14 hours as well. Our schedule was from 6.00 am to 8.00 pm.
The woman says she worked this schedule Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and it cost her a lot. Her husband says that she used to come home in tears.
“I can’t tell you how much back pain I’ve had. I was walking and crying in the street,” she says.
The woman says that she signed an employment contract and a program, but that she did not understand at all what was written there. Although the job description stated the mandatory wearing of personal protective equipment, no one gave him such equipment.
“I didn’t get any equipment while I was there and I was in boots for 14 hours a day, and the break was only by mouth, because the world is constantly coming and you can’t stay or go. When he asked me to come on Friday too, I told them I couldn’t come anymore. I stayed at home that weekend, but I had terrible pain in my legs and back,” says the Sibian woman in tears.
She was advised to leave by employees contractually obligated to stay
The woman said that she was a pastry chef, but in the back where she worked, there were no old employees, because no one could resist. It is the hardest for some employees coming from abroad.
“Those guys from other countries work in the back. Do you know how they work? They work six 14-hour days and only have one day off, that’s all. One of them told me not to stay. He has a two-year contract and he can’t leave, but he said that if he doesn’t die, he showed me like this, putting his hands on his chest, he doesn’t want to hear about this anymore. If you went and looked carefully you would see that from morning until evening they are still there. And that woman, Mariana, see how she treats them. I know it from fear. I for one would never want to meet her again.”
The woman couldn’t take it anymore and after a week she stopped going to work. But she says her heart goes out to her colleagues and to those boys who can’t talk about their problems or call out the abuses she says she witnessed.”
He says that he decided to submit a report to the Territorial Labor Inspectorate and to call the press so that those former colleagues have a chance to have their rights respected.
“On Thursday, the last day of work, I woke up in the morning and prayed to God that I could get out of bed and go to work. I was walking holding on to the table. I can’t help but think about what they are enduring.
The representatives of the simigeria say that they respect the law
A request based on Law 544 was sent to the representatives of Simigeria Luca in order to have a point of view from the employer as well. Even though in their response they pointed out that, being a commercial company, it has limited liability under this law, they still conveyed their point of view.
Passage from the answer from Luca
“Without making references to individuals or particular cases, out of respect for the activity you carry out and for your readers, we specify the fact that our company fully respects its obligations as an employer as they are regulated by the labor code , granting employees all the rights arising from the law, from the applicable collective labor contract and from the individual labor contract which is actually the result of the negotiations of the parties and subject to the control of the state institutions with attributions in the matter”, say the representatives of the simigeria.
At the same time, I would like to inform you that the salary schedule and the work schedule are displayed in each location for the information of the employees.
“Precisely in consideration of the obligation established by the Labor Code for any employer to inform employees about working conditions and the elements that concern the development of labor relations, but also from the desire to establish the employment relationship under conditions of transparency, legality, with excluding any possible interpretations, in each location of the subscription are displayed, for the information of the employees, the salary schedule, as well as the work schedule related to each position.
Moreover, the rights that the employees benefit from within our company are not only generated by the considerations imposed by legal provisions, but represent our desire, as much as possible, to develop a business with people for people”, they also say.
However, ITM inspectors contradict them
The editor of Turnul Sfatului also sent a request to the ITM inspectors to see if the Sibian woman filed a complaint and what were the steps taken by the inspectors. They reported that the inspectors who went to check found that Simigeria Luca does not comply with the law regarding the employee schedule.
“A person notified us of irregularities at the company mentioned by you in order to clarify the reported aspects, the labor inspectors went to the field at the work point in the town of Sibiu, to carry out a control regarding the verification of how the employer complies with the provisions regarding to labor relations and occupational health and safety.
From checking the hours worked by the employees, as they are recorded in the employee declarations and in the collective attendance sheets, it appears that there are employees who work 11, 12, 13, 14 and even 15 hours/day. At the controlled workplace, the labor inspectors were not provided with documents showing the time of arrival and departure of each employee on any of the two days in which the labor inspectors visited the work point mentioned above up.
From the above it appears that the employer does not comply with the provisions of art. 115 para. (2) of the republished Law 53/2003, which states that “The daily duration of the 12-hour working time will be followed by a 24-hour rest period” and art. 56 alic (3) of the company’s Internal Regulations” , reports the ITM management.
According to them, the employer was penalized for contravention, with a fine, according to the provisions of art. 260 para. (1) from Law no. 53/2003 – The Labor Code, republished, with subsequent amendments and provisions, also providing mandatory measures to remedy the identified deficiencies.
“After carrying out the contortion in the field of safety and health at work, some reported aspects were confirmed.
The employer does not comply with the provisions of art. 7(4) lit. (b) from Law 319/2006 in conjunction with point 13.1.3 of Annex 2 to GD 1091/2006, which is why the company was sanctioned for contravention and remedial measures were ordered.”
According to the law mentioned by the ITM inspectors “recruitment of one or more employees exceeding the duration of the working time established within the individual part-time employment contracts, with a fine from 10,000 lei to 15,000 lei for each person thus identified, without to exceed the cumulative value of 200,000 lei.”
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Tags: woman Sibiu accuses Luca simigeria respect law employees work hours day days row ITM proves
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