The Ministry of Labor promised to look into the situation with Wildberries

The Ministry of Labor and Rostrud are looking into the situation around the Wildberries marketplace, and a decision will be made jointly with the Prosecutor General’s Office based on the results. This was announced by the Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Russia Anton Kotyakov.

“Now a lot of attention is riveted to Wildberries from Rostrud, from the deputy corps, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, we are dealing with the situation. We are currently working with documents, with statements from citizens. Depending on this, a decision will be made jointly with the Prosecutor General’s Office,” he said (quote according to TASS).

The minister added that Wildberries does not fall under the category of platform employment and implies a “traditional employment relationship” that “must comply with traditional labor laws.”

On March 14, it became known that the prosecutor’s office of the Moscow Region would check information about the violation of the labor rights of Wildberries workers on behalf of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The press service of the State Prosecutor’s Office explained that the audit was organized based on information posted in the media about the violation of the labor rights of Wildberries employees, including “illegal deductions of funds from their wages.”

March 15 Telegram-channel “Wildberry. The truth of the employees informedthat a strike of operators of the Wildberries pickup point began in several Russian regions. It was alleged that some pickup points do not work in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg and other cities. At the same time, the Wildberries press service denied the information about the strike.

Later, a representative of the marketplace confirmed “RIA Novosti” that several points of issue were closed, goods began to be exported from them. The location of the points was not specified. The company noted that the partners “choose uncivilized forms of dialogue.”

Today, March 16, Wildberries announced a temporary suspension of the write-off mechanism for substitution of goods from the owners of the points of issue of orders.

“On the one hand, we have been strengthening our control for several days to prevent possible fraudulent activities. On the other hand, we are temporarily freezing the mechanism of write-offs for substitutions from the owners of partner points of issue of orders and managers of the pickup point in order to sort out all disputable situations,” the press service of the marketplace said.

The company added that they have strengthened feedback channels. According to Wildberries, more than 10,000 incorrect fines for product substitutions have already been canceled.