CEO of hair salon chain HairStore denies all charges of labour law violations

print this

Veikko Nenonen, CEO of the hair salon chain HairStore, has denied all charges put to him by prosecutors in Vantaa District Court on Monday.
      Nenonen faces charges of discrimination, violations of occupational safety norms, violations of labour contracts, and breaking the law on privacy at work.
      A key part of the case involves the company's instructions on sick leave, which were introduced in 2006.
     
HairStore introduced strict rules concerning the granting of sick leave.
      The prosecutor in the case says that employees who had fallen ill were required to come to their work place to have their temperature taken, and to let representatives of the employer assess the nature of the disease, and the need to visit a doctor or health nurse.
      The instructions read: "An occupational health doctor must be consulted when the employer asks, and it is not permissible to refuse to do so without losing pay for the work that is not done", the instructions read.
      The prosecutor says that Nenonen has assessed the need for sick leave in a manner that deviated from doctors' statements, and refused payment on that basis. In addition, he has required that employees come to work if they are ill in cases in which the employee has not acted according to the company's rules on absence due to illness.
     
Nenonen's defence stipulates that the company was within its rights in its policy on absenteeism.
      In the view of the defence, the are as many sets of rules as there are companies, and there is no external point of comparison. As the defence sees it, the company is "not in violation of the law, or the norms of the labour contract - instead, it is filling the gaps in the law and in the contract".
      Nenonen is also accused of downgrading the contractual rights of its employees who are pregnant. In one case, the prosecution says that a pregnant employee's contract was changed so that she had much less work.
      The defence stipulates that the employee had requested shorter working hours, and the possibility of choosing what shifts to do.
     
The prosecution also says that Nenonen began bullying the foreman of the company's store managers after the foreman brought up employee objections to the guidelines on illness absenteeism, and the treatment of pregnant employees.
      The prosecutor is asking the court to rule that HairStore be ordered to forfeit EUR 50,000 to the state as ill-gotten gains, in addition to a corporate fine of EUR 30,000.
      Some of the employees are also demanding monetary compensation from Nenonen and HairStore.
      The trial is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Service sector prone to violating labour rights of young employees (8.10.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat