What to do in case of irregular working hours allowance?

Questioner

If irregular working hours allowance has been paid incorrectly, can this simply be reclaimed? And how far back?

Lawyer

This cannot be reclaimed if you did not know and could not have known that an irregular hours allowance was paid incorrectly. However, if you do not work irregular hours, there is a good chance that you should have known that you were not entitled to the irregular hours allowance. In that case, the employer may reclaim that allowance.

Questioner

First of all I only worked irregular hours, on call (weekend taxi driver), at night I received night allowance. However, this should be mentioned in the taxi collective agreement.

Lawyer

Until 1 January 2010, the collective labour agreement for taxi drivers included the right to an irregular hours allowance of €1.05 per hour for hours worked between 22:00 and 06:00. This allowance no longer exists. In my opinion, it can be argued that you did not know and could not have known that the allowance had expired. In any case, you can rely on the fact that your employer apparently did not know this either. So it is defensible that it cannot be reclaimed. If it concerns this allowance, it can be reclaimed up to a maximum of 1 January 2010.

Lawyer

In my opinion, this can actually be reclaimed. precisely because, given the collective labor agreement, this irregular allowance would have expired. (I say this with reservations, as I no longer have the collective labor agreement for the taxi sector in my possession or have not studied it. For the rest I agree with colleague Martens, you can always contact me.