Legal Advice for Min-Hours at Work

Questioner

Dear Sirs/Madams, Last week a conflict arose at my work about minus hours. At my work I clock in/out at the start and end of my workday. Last year during the summer period I worked 39 hours too little. Also during the winter period I worked exactly 1 hour too little. This amounts to a total of 40 minus hours over 2015. At the beginning of this year my employer asked me how I wanted to solve this. I indicated that this was mainly due to the absence of the busier periods that had been there in all previous years. The employer then indicated that colleagues compensated for this by giving up vacation hours. Of course I thought about this for a while after which I concluded that I did not consider this a solution since I am prepared to work but the employer has not given me sufficient opportunity to meet my hours. So I got the feeling that the situation was made my problem while in my eyes this is the employer's problem. After a week of not hearing anything I was told that the hours were not being waived because it costs the company a lot of money. The days after I was given a 'mountain' of extra work to do overtime so they could cross out the minus hours by adding/minusing. It rubs me the wrong way in advance because the majority of the office does not have to 'clock in'. The employer states that these employees do not fall under the collective labor agreement and therefore do not have to clock in. These people regularly leave the door before the end of the day and do not even come close to working 40 hours a week. I am now being held responsible for minus hours that arise due to a lack of work while others are not being held accountable for this. After a short contact with the FNV, it became clear to me that the settlement of minus hours is not allowed at all because there can be no minus hours with a permanent contract. They advised me to contact a legal advisor. So the question to you: Is the company allowed to do this and what are my rights? If not, on what grounds can I object to this? My situation is as follows: - Full-time fixed contract (40 hours) This changed in January 2015. Before that, there was a 36-hour contract. I never physically received the changed contract. The pay slips do state that there is a full-time contract of 40 hours. - Function is sales associate - The contract states that a normal working week is from Monday to Friday - The contract states that the collective labor agreement applies, namely the collective labor agreement for flowers and plants wholesale. - The company has to deal with peak/off-peak periods (Flower wholesaler). However, last year the peak periods were disappointing I hope you can provide me with some more clarity so that I can be prepared for any subsequent conversation. Thank you very much in advance for your efforts!

Lawyer

The collective labor agreement states that the minus hours will eventually expire. In some cases, minus hours even have to be paid out. I have drafted a letter for your employer, which I cannot add here because it is too tailored to your situation.

Questioner

Thank you for your response. I will contact you.