The welfare company Stendi lost the case in Borgarting Court of Appeal where they were sued by environmental workers who demanded permanent jobs.
Leader Mette Nord in the Trade Union has become involved in the case of the 22 care workers who won their lawsuit against Stendi in the Borgarting Court of Appeal. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB
––
—
The Court of Appeal upheld the 22 care workers in Stendi in that they have always been employees, despite the fact that they have been treated as contractors or self-employed.
The 22 care workers receive significant arrears, and the termination of their contracts has been set aside as invalid. The Borgarting Court of Appeal also measures compensation and redress compensation. Stendi is sentenced to pay the care workers about NOK 24.1 million plus significant delay interest.
They are also awarded the costs of the case of NOK 17.5 million. The verdict has an appeal deadline of one month.
The union is cheering
– This is a landslide victory for our members who have fought this battle in two courts, says the union’s leader Mette Nord in a press release.
The union’s union lawyer has taken the case to court for the plaintiff members.
– Borgarting Court of Appeal has unequivocally ruled that Stendi has broken the law year after year and through this exposed our members to gross violations of their rights as employees. We expect Stendi, the industry in general and NHO to take this on board and ensure a clean-up, says Nord.
Stendi writes in a comment on his website that they will now consider whether they will appeal the verdict to the Supreme Court.
– We note that the Borgarting Court of Appeal has come to a completely different conclusion than the Oslo District Court. We also register that a minority in the Court of Appeal mainly agrees with the assessments from the district court. The decision from the Court of Appeal deviates significantly from the district court’s assessment, and we will therefore spend plenty of time reading the judgment carefully and considering appealing, says lawyer Eirik Edvardsen on behalf of Stendi.
Thought they should have been permanently employed
In 2018, 24 environmental workers convened Stendi (formerly Aleris), which is the largest commercial welfare company in Norway. They had worked for Stendi as care workers for people with problems related to drugs, psychiatry and disabilities.
The plaintiffs believed that they should have been permanently employed by the company instead of working as hired consultants. They also demanded post-payment for overtime, holiday pay and enrollment in a pension fund, in addition to compensation for unjustified dismissals.
The plaintiffs were only partially upheld in Oslo District Court in 2019. Stendi was completely acquitted in eleven of the cases, while twelve of the plaintiffs were awarded financial compensation and were upheld in part. The amounts they were awarded were far lower than the requirements. Only four of the plaintiffs were upheld in that they should be employed permanently.
–
