A tonne of trouble for Biedronka
The probe will focus on the findings of 229 inspections at Biedronka, which is owned by Jeronimo Martins (JMD), where officials found workers forced to carry loads of up to one tonne on handcarts and that 47 percent of stores failed to keep accurate records of working hours.
As a result, Polish prosecutors have begun investigations into the chain, which boasts more than 700 stores across the country and is Biedronka's largest market outside Portugal.
"We will check whether the violations found by labor inspectors were malicious or persistent, which would make them crimes," said Mirosław Adamski, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office. "We will be investigating the entire store network and the management of the chain to see if a crime occurred," he added.
Biedronka has denied any wrongdoing, responding that it has a computerized system of registering workers' hours, and that it had never compelled employees to carry one-tonne loads on hand carts.
"Both the Employment Code and internal JMD stipulations regulate working conditions including those in connection with the weight and storage of loads. Norms could only have been exceeded if workers broke regulations," the company said in a statement.
In September, a court ordered Jeronimo Martins to pay a former Biedronka worker zł.35,000 for 2,600 hours of unpaid overtime. Martins is appealing the decision. Adam Bodnar, a lawyer with the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation in Warsaw, which filed a brief on behalf of the former worker, said his group had received complaints from several Biedronka workers. "One of the labor inspectors' more serious charges is that Biedronka didn't provide electric carts. You don't have to be a doctor to see that pulling one-tonne loads will affect your health sooner or later," said Bodnar. (Reuters)
As a result, Polish prosecutors have begun investigations into the chain, which boasts more than 700 stores across the country and is Biedronka's largest market outside Portugal.
"We will check whether the violations found by labor inspectors were malicious or persistent, which would make them crimes," said Mirosław Adamski, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office. "We will be investigating the entire store network and the management of the chain to see if a crime occurred," he added.
Biedronka has denied any wrongdoing, responding that it has a computerized system of registering workers' hours, and that it had never compelled employees to carry one-tonne loads on hand carts.
"Both the Employment Code and internal JMD stipulations regulate working conditions including those in connection with the weight and storage of loads. Norms could only have been exceeded if workers broke regulations," the company said in a statement.
In September, a court ordered Jeronimo Martins to pay a former Biedronka worker zł.35,000 for 2,600 hours of unpaid overtime. Martins is appealing the decision. Adam Bodnar, a lawyer with the Helsinki Human Rights Foundation in Warsaw, which filed a brief on behalf of the former worker, said his group had received complaints from several Biedronka workers. "One of the labor inspectors' more serious charges is that Biedronka didn't provide electric carts. You don't have to be a doctor to see that pulling one-tonne loads will affect your health sooner or later," said Bodnar. (Reuters)
