The case in summary Ole Petter Vestli has worked 1200 hours more than agreed with Vinmonopolet during one year. He has complained to Vinmonopolet before the Dispute Resolution Board and is demanding a higher job fraction. Vestli has worked as extra help at Vinmonopolet’s outlets in Lillehammer, Larvik and Sandefjord. He was refused the request for a 65-percent position, and has not yet received a response to the request for a full position. Vinmonopolet has recently hired a new full-time employee from another outlet, despite Vestli’s wish for more work. Vinmonopolet has until 15 March to respond to the Dispute Resolution Board. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content has been reviewed by news’s journalists before publication. The reason for the refusal was that there was no need for more work. – I feel badly and unfairly treated by Vinmonopolet for a long time, says Ole Petter Vestli to news. The Larviksman has now engaged a lawyer and sent a complaint to the Dispute Resolution Board. Vestli started as a summer substitute for Vinmonopolet in 2020. Since then, he has worked as extra help at pole sales in Lillehammer, Larvik and Sandefjord. – In April 2022, I got a part-time position of eight percent at the pole sale in Sandefjord. In practice, this meant that I had to work every second Saturday, says Vestli. In the coming months, there was a lot more work, without the employment contract being changed. Should have worked 144 hours In one year, he worked a total of 1312 hours. – That is 1,168 more hours than the agreement with Vinmonopolet called for, explains Vestli. The agreement to work every other Saturday means in practice 144 hours a year. news has seen Vestli’s documentation on the number of working hours in this period. The number of hours is also shown in the complaint to the Dispute Resolution Board. See Vinmonopolet’s answer further down in the article. – On 1 November last year, I asked for promotion to a 65 percent position, says Vestli. He justified it by how many hours he had actually worked in the past year. – I also asked for a full-time position when I learned that a new appointment was to be made in Sandefjord. Thinks he has preferential rights Two months after Vestli’s request for a full-time position, Vinmonopolet advertised a full-time position at the outlet in Sandefjord. – I naturally applied for this and referred to my previous request where I pointed to the preferential right. Vestli was not invited to an interview for this position. At the beginning of February this year, Vestli’s request for a 65 percent position was rejected. Two weeks later, Vinmonopolet hired a new full-time employee from another pole outlet. Has not answered the demand for a full position Vestli never received an answer from Vinmonopolet to the question about a full position. – It is strange that they have only responded to one part of the claim. Ole Petter Vestli and lawyer Tor-Inge Baldersheim look forward to the Dispute Resolution Board’s treatment. Photo: Philip Hofgaard / news One week after Vestli asked for an extended position, Vinmonopolet announced a decision to open a new outlet in Sandefjord. This sale has not yet been opened, but Vestli nevertheless reacts to Vinmonopolet’s feedback that there is no need for more work. – In light of the board’s decision to open a new pole outlet, it is incomprehensible that they reject my wish for more work, says Vestli. Polet lost in the district court It is lawyer Tor-Inge Baldersheim in Trolltinden Advokater Sandefjord who has written Vestli’s complaint to the Dispute Resolution Board. – I believe Vestli is entitled to an increase in his position under the Working Environment Act. Baldersheim refers to the judgment in a similar case from the Bergen District Court in 2017. There, two Polish employees were successful after first complaining to the employer before the Dispute Resolution Board. Lawyer Tor-Inge Baldersheim. Photo: Philip Hofgaard / news It was also Vinmonopolet itself that brought the case before the court after not being upheld by the tribunal. The lawyer also points out that Vinmonopolet received this year’s reputation award in 2022 and that in this way they have an important social responsibility. – It is regrettable that Vinmonopolet’s store in Sandefjord is not allowed to have employment agreements that are in accordance with the mandatory protection rules in the Working Environment Act. Vestli’s boss will not comment. Vinmonopolet now has until March 15 to respond to the Dispute Resolution Board. news has contacted general manager Tone W. Elnan at Vinmonopolet in Sandefjord and district manager Ralph Weber. They do not wish to comment on the matter. Instead, it is head of communications at Vinmonopolet, Kristin Welle-Strand, who answers. – Vinmonopolet is working to increase the size of part-time contracts and the number of full-time contracts. Of course, we wish we could offer a larger contract to anyone who wants it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Read Vinmonopolet’s full answer here Vinmonopolet is working to increase the size of part-time contracts and the number of full-time contracts with us. Of course, we wish we could offer a larger contract to anyone who wants it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We have to staff according to customer flow, the store’s opening hours, receipt of goods and other operations. Some shops are closed for part of the week, customers often do most of their shopping towards the end of the week, and – as in almost all retail trade – Vinmonopolet has large seasonal fluctuations and differences between north and south and city and country. All this means that it is not possible to offer the desired position fraction to everyone. In order to get the hourly rate up, we have to have both full-time and part-time employees. Why is it like this: More than 70 per cent of our customers come in on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in a normal week and it is on these days that we have a greater need for employees in the store. On the first three days of the week, there is not enough customer traffic or turnover to have as many people at work as towards the weekend. Every fourth Vinmonopol is closed one or more days a week because there is not enough customer base to stay open any longer. We have a requirement in our assignment letter from the Ministry of Health and Care to operate cost-effectively, and all our stores must cover their own costs. We cannot therefore be open when we do not have customers, and all employees cannot therefore have a full-time job. In addition, there are large seasonal fluctuations with us, where we have a significantly increased customer flow at Easter, around May holidays in the summer and at Christmas. Our agreement says that those who work a lot must have every second Saturday off, and when most shops are open six days a week, the duty schedules don’t go up if we can’t play for more people, and at the same time there isn’t enough work for everyone to work full time. Our aim is nevertheless to be able to reduce the use of overtime and increase the size of part-time contracts and the number of full-time contracts. We work actively with our shop stewards to find good solutions that can contribute to that. There are several of the solutions we have looked at so far that we want to test in the future, in order to remedy and increase predictability for employees and the company. management. There are employees who are not satisfied with their position, and we try to come up with good solutions in these cases – for both employees and the company – before the cases end up in the Dispute Resolution Board. You have many specific questions that I cannot answer, this is because it is an ongoing personnel matter. For information, we have not opened a store in Sandefjord (Fokserød), but it was decided in the board in November 2023 that Vinmonopolet wants to open a store in 2024, provided that we find suitable premises in the individual municipality, and that the municipality approves this.
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Reprimands Vinmonopolet – employee worked more than a thousand hours more than agreed – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
