PHILIPSBURG--Five workers of EFFY Jewelers decided to take their employer to court in an effort to obtain their outstanding salaries, including commissions. The employees have not been paid their full salaries since April 2020, as EFFY unilaterally decided to apply a COVID-19 deduction on their salaries.
EFFY was condemned to pay the five employees their outstanding salaries and average commissions as claimed, increased by 10 per cent for late payment, with legal interest, the court decided on December 29, 2020.
EFFY also has to pay the legal fees and costs to the employees’ attorney Cindy Marica of Mariflex Attorneys. “A summons was already sent to EFFY’s attorney to comply with the rulings,” Marica stated on Tuesday, January 5, 2021.
The litigating workers did not receive any salaries from July 2020. Therefore, they lodged a complaint against EFFY with the Department of Social Affairs and Labor. The five workers tried to reach a settlement with assistance of the Labor Department, but their efforts proved futile. The employees decided to take the matter to court and engaged Marica to represent them.
A final summons to pay all outstanding salaries and commissions was sent to EFFY on November 20, 2020, but despite the jeweller’s lawyer Remco Stomp asking for more time, nothing was paid to the employees, Marica said.
During the court hearing of December 18, 2020, Marica argued on the employees’ behalf that work hours and salaries cannot be unilaterally reduced by any employer. Instead, the employer should have engaged in negotiations with the employees and come to some form of reasonable arrangement in case the company really suffered significant losses to justify a change in the labour conditions.
“This was never done by EFFY. No reasonable settlement was offered and their full salaries were withheld, despite the fact that EFFY received business payroll support from the St. Maarten Stimulus and Support Plan (SSRP) for some months,” Marica explained.
Although Stomp claimed during last month’s hearing that EFFY had offered a reasonable settlement and stated that the employees had refused these proposals, the court rejected these statements.
The jeweller closed its stores in St. Maarten on March 17, 2020, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and continues to have its retail sales closed “until flights and cruises are resumed,” according to the EFFY Facebook page.
The five workers did not receive their full salaries from April 2020, but their employer did receive payroll support for April and May 2020.
EFFY claimed that it was unable to pay out the required amounts in one go and had offered its employees to pay the amounts in instalments. The company also claimed it was not obligated to pay full salaries based on the principle of no-work-no-pay and pleaded with the judge for wage moderation.
The judge found that EFFY Jewelers had not proposed to amend the labour agreements, but had “without any consultation unilaterally” decided not to pay the full salaries. “In addition, EFFY Jewelers has formulated a proposal that leads to the termination of the employment contract.”
The court said the workers were not held to accept their employers’ proposal to pay their wages in instalments, and rejected the jeweller’s appeal to the principle of no-work-no-pay, as the employer had chosen not to make use of the services of the five workers involved, but of those of their colleagues instead. The five were told that they had to wait until they were called in for work, but that never happened.
As the company had also failed to change the labour agreements, it was ordered to pay the full salaries to the five workers involved.
