The Belgian public prosecution department is demanding PostNL pay a €24 million fine for failing to deal properly with subcontractors’ staff, the Telegraaf said on Thursday. Although they are not officially PostNL workers, the company treated them as such and had the most say about the way they worked, the Belgian authorities say. 

The case, currently being heard in Antwerp, centres on the PostNL Cargo and PostNL Pakketten units, and the contract they had agreed with 220 subcontractors. 

Both units, the prosecutor says, had direct influence on the recruitment of drivers, even though this should have been up to the contractors. PostNL also spoke directly to the people concerned if there were complaints about service, rather than the intermediary company. 

PostNL has denied the charges, saying it keeps to the letter of the law and that subcontractors run their own companies and steer staff. 

The court case follows a television documentary that claimed that PostNL Belgium employed drivers without driving licences, minors who worked long shifts, and under the counter payments. 

In the Netherlands, 70% of the company’s delivery services are provided by subcontractors and government inspectors said in 2020 that nine in 10 were not operating in line with the law. 

The company was also fined nearly €300,000 in the Netherlands in 2021 because subcontractors were using illegal labour.