DPD documents point to potential issues with sick leave and pension contributions
Internal documents from the British courier company DPD regarding expenses for more than 3,000 temporary workers do not include separate line items for sick pay and pension contributions. According to The Guardian, this may indicate that workers did not receive the benefits they were entitled to, were denied sick leave, or were terminated before becoming eligible for pension contributions.
The newspaper reviewed spreadsheets detailing the costs of hiring temporary staff at DPD over the past two fiscal years. The documents list hourly wages, vacation pay, employer National Insurance contributions, and the staffing agency’s margin. However, costs for sick pay and pension contributions are not included in these calculations.
Labor law experts noted that this raises questions about the company’s fulfillment of its obligations to employees. According to The Guardian, sick pay in the UK can now be received from the first day of absence from work, whereas prior to April, it was paid after three days. Employers begin paying pension contributions after an employee has worked for 12 weeks.
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The formal employers of temporary staff are staffing agencies, while DPD acts as the client company. DPD stated that its commercial agreements with the agencies allow them to fulfill their legal obligations and are in line with market standards. The company also emphasized that its contracts with the agencies require compliance with labor laws, including requirements regarding sick leave pay and automatic enrollment in pension programs.
DPD is owned by France’s La Poste. The company reports that it has over 15,000 employees, more than 10,000 vehicles, operates from 84 locations, and delivers over 260 million packages annually. The release of this data came as the UK’s Fair Work Agency began operations; as of April 7, the agency consolidated several bodies responsible for monitoring compliance with labor rights.
