FLINK – 11 minutes and you are out?

FLINK does not change its business practices, but fortunately experiences resistance more and more often. On April 19th 2023 we accompanied S., a FLINK worker, in solidarity at his conciliation hearing at the labor court in Dresden. Because no one has to be alone when everyone stands together. We got to know S. in our union counseling where we talked about his termination without notice by FLINK. Once again, FLINK terminated a contract without notice and without giving any reasons. The reasons only became known at the court hearing and are, to say the least, outrageous.

For example, the FLINK representative Lagodinski said that S. had once failed to show up for his shift in the fall without an excuse. S. countered that on that day there was no scheduled shift on flink scheduling system and suddenly in the evening around 19:00 one shift showed up, a misfunction about which he immediately informed the shift lead and hub manager. He could also prove this by means of e-mails. But the second reason mentioned really makes us as trade unionists furious: S. had been 11 minutes late on one day. Here, too, S. was able to refuse that there had been problems with public transport and that he had already informed the shift manager on his way to work. This was the first time S. was late in 1.5 years of work. In other words, exemplary work behavior. But why then this dismissal? As the lawyer representing the worker, RA Feilitzsch, suspected at the hearing, there could be a connection with the fact that shortly before the dismissal, S. complained that he was not getting enough shifts in the last 2 months. So, on the boss’s side, non-functioning IT, poor shift planning in violation of labor law, hire-and-fire policy on a continuous basis, on the worker’s side, being late once for a few minutes is enough to deprive a person of his income. To this we say: Termination without notice for FLINK!

The judge of the 8th chamber Zickert saw it similarly. He left hardly any doubt that the dismissal cannot stand. S. and his lawyer made the offer to terminate the employment relationship by mutual agreement on April 30th, 2023, and to be paid until then, plus a severance payment of 1,500 euros – only fair in view of the legally untenable termination.

The representative of FLINK Lagodinski proposed a settlement with termination date at the end of March and obviously did not have the authority to offer more. Justifiably, S. and his legal representative rejected this offer. So the proceedings continue. As the lawyer stated, there is no reason to assume that the termination was lawful and therefore no basis at all to accept a bad settlement.

We are curious to see if there will still be a settlement or if we will get a judicial verdict in the main trial in February next year on how much off FLINK’s business practice is. Or, maybe as FLINK’s representative stated – making it sound like a thread – , if the termination is going to be revoked and the will reemploy S. We will continue to monitor the court case and report if there’s something new. As long as FLINK does not change its brazen and often illegal business practices, they will have no peace. We demand: Stop the hire-and-fire policy! Finally, get your business in order! Stop torpedoing attempts of self-organization of the workers!

We recommend to all riders and other workers of FLINK:
Don’t trust FLINK! Document your communication and possible irregularities and save everything offline! Export your time sheets regularly!
If you have the impression that something is wrong, get advice, for example in our union counseling. If you are fired, you often have a good chance to get a compensation in a dismissal protection lawsuit! Organize with your colleagues, unionize – Riders unite!