Our lawyer noticed that the employer had not paid wage supplements correctly – a considerable amount was settled

Topics

• Legal assistance
• Salary

The employee asked Lakikaveri for help with missing wages, at which point it was found out that in reality, the employer had failed to pay more than ten times the amount. The case was settled quickly.

What was it all about?

The employer had failed to pay part of the employee’s severance pay: the amount shown on the last payslip did not match the amount paid to the employee’s account. When the employee inquired about this, the employer promised to pay the missing sum but nothing happened.

How was the matter resolved? 

The employee contacted YTK Worklife’s Lakikaveri legal service and our lawyer investigated the matter. The lawyer reviewed the employee’s employment contract, time sheets and payslips and discovered that the payslips were not in line with the collective agreement applied to the employment relationship. The documents were submitted to a payroll accountant for further review, at which point it was revealed that the amount outstanding was more than ten times the severance pay that was initially thought to be missing. The lawyer wrote the employer a claim for damages for missing increments throughout the employee’s career. The employer disagreed with the claims but expressed a wish to settle the matter. A mutually satisfactory settlement agreement was reached quickly.

Lawyer’s comment:

“Collective agreements often contain provisions on pay supplements, the payment of which is not voluntary for employers in employment relationships to which the collective agreement applies. Despite this, non-payment of such supplements is not very uncommon. It is a good idea to be aware of your terms of employment and check your payslips monthly to avoid needing to investigate and settle the matter after the employment has ended or risk losing thousands of euros in wages.”

Lakikaveri

Example case

The examples are based on real-life cases investigated by the Lakikaveri service. The member in question has given permission to publish the story, or the details have been changed so that it is not possible to identify the member or the employer.​​​​​​​