In June, news told about the record fee for the lift company Electromecánica Del Noroeste. One and a half million kroner was to be paid by the Spanish company. The fee was the highest the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has ever imposed. It was given after the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority had concluded “serious breaches of what is a very basic requirement under the Working Environment Act”. Now suddenly the inspectorate has made a complete U-turn. The entire record fee is deleted – after the Spaniards complained about it. Now news can reveal that the complaint was submitted after the complaint deadline, according to the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority, had expired. And despite the fact that the Labor Inspectorate determined that the deadline was absolute, the Spaniards’ complaint was processed. Told about “shadow wages” It all started with an unannounced inspection at the Vard Søviknes shipyard outside Ålesund last autumn. Here, Electromecánica installed elevators in the luxury ship “Viking Octantis”. news was present during the inspection. The Spanish elevator fitters at the shipyard told of illegally long days. As a result, the inspectorate demanded time sheets and pay slips from Electromecánica. But they didn’t get that – despite repeated reminders. Instead, the company’s representative told about “shadow pay”. – We have not received an explanation of what shadow pay is. We have not raised this issue in the inspection case either, says Jens Erik Romslo, section leader of the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. THE BACK ROOM: Here, inspectors from the police, the Norwegian Labor Inspectorate and the Norwegian Tax Agency work together during the inspection at Vard Søviknes in October. news has glossed over certain details in the picture. PHOTO: ARNE FREDRIK NÆSS / news Photo: Arne Fredrik Næss / news Without time sheets and pay slips, the company was impossible to control. Therefore, the Norwegian Labor and Welfare Authority adopted the record fee. The ten-page justification states: “The violations show that the employees’ rights are consistently disregarded to the employer’s advantage.” Now the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has a completely different opinion. – There is no longer a basis for maintaining the fee, says Romslo. news has investigated what happened after the fee was given. ANTARCTICA: The Spanish company installed elevators in the cruise ship “Viking Octantis”. It was completed in Norway in December 2021. The ship takes wealthy passengers to exotic regions, such as here in Antarctica. Photo: Dennis Schmelz / Viking Cruises Would like appeal advice from the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority published the record fee on 29 April. Twelve days later, Electromecánica asked for appeal advice from the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. They also wanted to know whether a possible complaint would be approved. “Furthermore, they have questions about the decision on a fee of NOK 1,500,000. (…) What should be the basis for complaining, and will this be approved?” wrote the company on May 11. The inspectorate replied that the company itself had to assess whether they wanted to complain. They emphasized that the appeal deadline was 20 May. The date passed. No complaints were received. In contrast, Electromecánica was caught breaking the law again. In a new inspection, the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority revealed underpayment of their workers in Norway. The inspection found, among other things, an hourly wage of NOK 80. That is less than half of the minimum wage. They also announced a halt to the company’s work in Norway because they had not complied with other orders. Now the Spaniards went for a frontal attack on the record fee. Alleged letter not received The first complaint came in June. At the same time, the company acquired Norwegian lawyers. The law firm Grette sent claimed that the supervisory authority was wrong about the appeal deadline. They believed that Electromecánica had only found out about the fee on 13 May, and that the complaint from June had been submitted by the deadline. Grette wrote: “Furthermore, there is no information in the case that would indicate that the Company became aware of the decision before 13 May 2022.” This despite the fact that the company had asked the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority about the fee two days before, i.e. on 11 May, and asked for advice on appeals. Lawyer Aleksander Sandtrøen from the law firm Grette represents Electromecánica in the complaint against the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. Photo: Advokatfirmaet Grette AS news has asked Grette to answer this question: – Why do you claim that the company only became aware of the fee decision on 13 May, when the company two days earlier asked the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority questions about the fee itself? – The company has no comments on this, replies lawyer Aleksander Sandtrøen. Refused to grant an exception to the appeal deadline The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority rejected the lawyers’ appeal. They considered whether there were “special reasons” to grant the Spaniards an exception to the deadline. It didn’t. In July, the supervisory authority made a separate decision that the appeal deadline – 20 May. – was final. The record fee had to be paid. But the Spanish did not give up. They sent another complaint. This time on the decision which stated that the appeal deadline was final. The complaint was sent in several parts. In the last part – which came in August – they also included the time sheets and pay slips that the inspectorate had demanded since last autumn. The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority then chose to process the complaint anyway. Although they had previously established that the appeal period was final – and had expired. – Almost a year after the inspection at the shipyard, we receive the requested information. After a thorough legal assessment, there is no longer a basis for the fee, says Romslo. Jens Erik Romslo is head of section at the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. Photo: Dag Harald Kvammen Andersen / news – In August it was three months since the appeal deadline expired, and six weeks since you refused to grant an extended deadline. Why did you still process the complaint? – There is no doubt that the complaint came too late. Therefore, we decided to reject it. After this decision was appealed, we received a full appeal. There we get the documentation we had requested earlier. With that, the entire basis for the fee fell away. – Can everyone complain, and have the complaint assessed, after the deadline has expired? – We must assess whether there are grounds for taking the complaint up for consideration after the deadline has expired. There are conditions for this, such as special reasons. – In this case, the Labor Inspectorate had concluded that there were no special reasons to process a complaint after the deadline? – With the documentation that arrived, we had no legal basis for maintaining the fee. – How do you assess the credibility of the documentation you have now received? – We have no indications that it is not correct. Not available for interview news has requested an interview with Electromecánica. The company rejects this. Instead, lawyer Sandtrøen writes in an e-mail: “Electromecánica notes that the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has revoked its decision against the company regarding infringement fees following the inspection at the Vard Søvik shipyard in October 2021.” He adds that the cancellation of the fee shows that the company met the relevant requirements in the Working Environment Act. news has asked the following questions, which the company does not answer: The supervisory authority asked for timesheets and payslips in October 2021. If you had this – why did you only deliver it in August 2022? Why should one trust the documentation you have now sent? Why didn’t the workers get the minimum wage in spring 2022? Haven’t checked the timesheets they finally received Although the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority finally received timesheets and payslips from autumn 2021 in August, they have not investigated whether they show illegal working hours or underpayment. Nor have they investigated whether the time sheets show the same as the workers at the shipyard told about. – We have not assessed the information we received about conditions from autumn 2021 against this, says Romslo. – Why not? – We have not considered this documentation to be relevant where we are in the case now. The underpayment that the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority uncovered this spring has also not led to any sanction from the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority. – We notified an order for late payment of underpaid wages to the employees. A short time later, the company repaid this, says Romslo. – Shouldn’t the company be punished for having paid the workers too little? – This is an ongoing assessment. We have still not finished the inspection of the company.
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Complained after the deadline – avoids a record fee from the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority – news Dokumentar
