Man declared 2000 overtime hours

The man had worked for the Port Authority since 1980. In the department responsible for the quality of the ports and waterways. Because he photographs in his spare time, he was asked to occasionally take a picture of the harbor. Yet the man continued to submit claims, which were also very high. The Port Authority only noticed this years later.

The employee was discovered to have claimed around 2000 overtime hours in the two preceding years at the start of 2020. He had gotten over 100,000 euros in total for this. He made more than 4,100 euros each month on average, on top of his normal gross monthly pay.

The man claimed 10 to 15 hours of extra overtime every weekend for two years, according to the so-called time sheets. He would also have worked overtime from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. on occasion following regular working days.

Timesheets adjusted

The high timesheets were not discovered earlier, according to the Port Authority. Because the employee had his time sheets signed for approval by his manager before adjusting the number of overtime hours.

The employee claimed that the disclosures were correct. Since he had truly worked these overtime hours on behalf of the communication department.

Dismissal and claim for damages

When the photographic employee was discovered, the Port Authority tossed him out on the street and demanded that he pay back the overtime he had been paid. The individual stated that he had no intention of doing so because the hours had already been approved and paid out. His old boss then took him to court.

With the exception of a few incidents, the individual denied increasing his timesheets after the occurrence throughout the trial. In most cases, his boss would have just approved the overtime.

photo editing

The significant number of overtime hours, according to the employee, might be justified by the fact that he had not only taken images for the Port Authority during that time. At the request of the communication department, he is also reported to have edited images from the database. He had done it at home because his employer lacked the appropriate tools.

The photo editing, in particular, had taken a long time, according to the man. He provided proof in the form of a USB stick with over 5,000 partially modified photos.

should know better

Last August, the Rotterdam subdistrict court ruled that the employee should have known that. He was not entitled to payment of the enormous amount of overtime he had declared.

However, he was given the opportunity to prove how many overtime hours he had worked with his employer’s permission. The employee then explained why he would still be entitled to the number of hours declared, with the exception of a few cases in which he and a colleague had tinkered with mopeds.

Repay 75,000 euros

The man failed to prove that he was entitled to the overtime hours declared by the subdistrict court in November. The court also refused to approve the Port of Rotterdam Authority’s full claim of approximately 100,000 euros because it is standard practice at the Port Authority for employees in its department to work about 11 hours of overtime per month.

Finally, a Rotterdam subdistrict judge found that the photographer’s ex-employee was overpaid by over 86,000 euros. The individual still owes the Port Authority more than 75,000 euros after an amount was settled with the last payment of his wages and credits.

Source: rtlnieuws.nl
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