Tallink loses labor dispute

TALLINN - Estonian shipping company Tallink was ordered to pay a large compensation amount to a number of workers last year, reports news agency LETA. The labor dispute committee ruled last year that Hansaliin and HT Laevateenistus, subsidiaries of Tallink that provide crew services for the company’s vessels, must pay 700,000 kroons (44,800 euros) in benefits and past salaries. The majority of the claims were filed by the trade union of seamen, which represents its members working on the ferries.

All in all, the committee ruled in 44 cases involving Tallink, and in more than half of the cases ruled that the company had treated its employees, who are paid hourly wages, unfairly. The biggest single compensation awarded by the labor dispute committee was over 25,000 kroons, and the smallest was 480 kroons.

The more the employee had been working for Tallink and was able to prove that the company had violated its responsibilities with regard to salaries and discriminated against the worker, the higher has been the compensation.
The rest of the compensation that Tallink was ordered to pay were benefits for illegal layoffs, when the employer has terminated the employee’s employment contract because it deemed them incompetent or unreliable, or accused them of breaching the terms of their employment contract.

However, ten workers, who had disputed their redundancy when Tallink found that they had caused the company damages by letting others use their company food coupons, saw their case go against them when the labor dispute committee found that the evidence collected by the employer was sufficient to cause suspicion with the employees and formed a sufficient reason for ending the employment relationship.

Tallink Grupp in the second quarter of its 2010/2011 financial year (December-February) transported 1,999,313 passengers, which is a more than 23 percent increase compared to the previous year.