After postman Emilia Leijon Amrén raised the alarm about misconduct at Postnord, she received a reminder with the threat of dismissal. Now she has agreed to a settlement: Postnord withdraws the recall – in exchange for her terminating her employment.
– It felt like I was more or less asked to resign, that I had no choice, says Emilia.
Last autumn, postman Emilia Leijon Amrén received a reminder with threats of dismissal from her employer Postnord, for raising the alarm about the postmen’s stressful work environment in the local newspaper and on social media.
The reminder stated, among other things, that she violated the company’s “Code of conduct” and the duty of loyalty.
With the help of the trade union Seko, Emilia has run a process to get Postnord to withdraw the recall. Emilia had raised the alarm both internally and to the Post and Telecommunications Board before she spoke to the media, therefore she considered herself to have taken all the steps necessary to claim protection under the new whistleblower law, which also prohibits retaliation against private employees.
Couldn’t bear to continue the process
Emilia has previously wanted to take her case to the labor court, but last week an agreement was reached between Postnord and the trade union Seko, which represented Emilia.
Postnord withdraws its recall and at the same time Emilia’s employment ends.
– I felt that it is far too big and heavy opponent, and I will never be able to win this fight. Then it took far too much on my mental health, I went into the wall because of this and that is probably why I agreed to this agreement, says Emilia Leijon Amrén.
That Emilia’s employment would be terminated was part of the settlement for Postnord to tear up the memory, confirms Seko’s negotiator Sune Blomkvist.
– It was part of the agreement, where Emilia also received a financial settlement. We found a solution that both Emilia and Postnord could accept, says Sune Blomkvist.
Does not fulfill its social mission
During the past year, Postnord has had major challenges in reaching the delivery requirements – that at least 95 percent of all letters must arrive within two days. Kalla Fakta has been able to show that over the course of six months, 28 million letters were delayed, and piles of mail that the postmen did not have time to deliver were lying at the post terminals. Last March, Postnord received its second injunction from the Swedish Post and Telecommunications Board, which then rejected the company’s risk analysis.
For Cold facts, Postnord confirms the outcome of the negotiations with Emilia and claims that working conditions at the postal terminal in Årsta, where Emilia worked, have improved with a new manager. But we do not get more answers about how staff who report misconduct are handled.