Got the update today so sharing the below story from the past couple of weeks:
So a friend just over 2 months ago got a new job in a small bussiness (about 10 employees) that provides a service. Their current single customer is foreign.
So i was chatting with my friend and he mentioned that his salary is 10% above minimum wage. (ok its his deal with the boss). But the day before our chat he got his second salary and it was about 16€ and some change lower than the agreed uppon amount. They agreed on net salary and this was clearly less by the above amount.
So i told him to go ask about it and not leave things like this on their own, because he is non-confrontational very often (even though he isnt an introvert).
He said that when he discussed with his colleagues after the first salary, they told him the boss is transferring the agreed upon amount and the bank takes its fee + the exchange rate from $ to € from the already transferred amount!! and not from the bosses account. apparently they had asked…
I obviously find this unacceptable, so i took his phone and typed in a short email asking why was this being done since it has not been agreed (friend told me his contract is less than a page, with the rest being based on just the local laws). Then i asked (in the mail) if that means that the 8 hours that the employees are being paid for includes their commute from and to home? So should they depart each their home at 8:00 and be back home at 16:30?
I was typing it in seriously but my friend thought we were just having fun. I got him to copy in all the colleagues and i sent it (for which he got a bit mad).
Not two days later the boss responded, company wide, that it was a false equivalency. And that he will not pay for the transfer fee nd the exchange rates…
Welp guess what. It took all 10 of them to organize to depart their homes at exactly 8 am just half a day. So literally this past Wednesday everyone left home at 8:00. And they started packing to leave early each to their relevant commute time.
Apparently the boss on Thursday said “ok and he would start paying the agreed upon amount, but nobody should expect a raise in the coming months since they wanted to take money out of his pocket”!!
Which apparently angered on of the oldest employees and they went to the boss (all 10) and told him that unless he pays back ALL the money that have been withheld they would sue because one of them contacted a lawyer and there are grounds for it. So yesterday bossman said ok. everyone is getting backpay all these. Please allow for a month to be calculated. a draft will be shared to confirm each individual's amount.
Just two hours later he called my friend in his office and asked him if he will continue to be a hell raiser so he should fire him or if he will be compliant…
My friend cocked it up (imo), by saying he doesnt think he will be a hellraiser… (told my friend he might have to threaten back with a lawsuit forwrongfull temrination, but he told me he doesnt want to loose this job…
But apparently they forced the boss into paying back. My friend told me today that one of the oldest employees has been there for over 10 years and he had calculated his amount to be at close 8000€!