Northvolt bankruptcy chaos leaves ex-workers broke and desperate

Despite the government salary guarantee, many former Northvolt employees are still waiting for their April salary.

– The salary was supposed to arrive on April 25. Many of us barely have a penny left in our accounts, and it’s tough, says a former employee whom Norran meets.

She wishes to remain anonymous, so we choose to call her Ida. She is one of a handful of former Northvolt employees who have contacted Norran about continued unpaid wages. They are all highly critical of Northvolt's bankruptcy administrator.

Paying ongoing bills has become a torment for many, Ida explains. They constantly have to contact landlords and other creditors to request extensions for payments.

Salaries for current Northvolt employees and those on leave are handled separately. Active employees receive their salaries from the bankruptcy estate, while employees on leave get their salary through the government wage guarantee, processed by Skatteverket.

Details about who is entitled to compensation and to how much is provided by the bankruptcy administrator – who thus plays a significant role in the process.

Skatteverket then checks the details and pays out the salary guarantee.

Ida is frustrated by the delay:

– I understand that there are many people to deal with, but the administrator knew that when they accepted the assignment. There’s no excuse for how poorly this has been handled.

But it’s not just late payments causing irritation and stress.

– So much has gone wrong; the dates on my latest employment certificate were wrong. And it stated that I had worked minus hours. And the employer’s certificate is also missing, which needed to be submitted to the unemployment insurance fund (a-kassa) by May 1.

Ida, who is a Swedish citizen, points out that she is in a more secure position than many others. One friend told her that her holiday pay has been completely withheld.

– She expected 58,000 kronor, but only got 600.

Many are not only suffering from the financial stress of not being able to pay their bills but also from worry about the future – and where they will go.

Another employee is critical of how communication from the bankruptcy administrator has been handled.

– I’ve never received a reply to any email I’ve sent, and several haven’t received any information at all – because they kept emailing to former employees' Northvolt email addresses.

Email addresses that the dismissed employees no longer have access to.

– The bankruptcy administrator knows that, as they asked us to provide our private email addresses for that reason.

Ida agrees with the criticism and says that most of the information they get comes from IF Metall. For example, last week the union informed them about the salary delay – that it could be another two weeks away.

– Now there’s concern that this might be an understatement – due to the ongoing tax declaration season.

In an email, one employee writes: “The only ones who have received their April salary are those still working at Northvolt for the administrator. It’s ridiculous, as these delays are destroying many former Northvolt workers financially. Some of us even wonder if the delays could even be legal.”

The bankruptcy administrator Mikael Kubu does not agree to an interview by phone but responds via email that the bankruptcy administration is working as quickly as possible to make all necessary decisions: "So far, nearly 10,000 wage guarantee decisions have been made for employees. Further decisions are made daily."

Regarding the criticism of a lack of information, he says that this has been done through several channels, both verbally and in writing. In some cases, the HR department has held meetings that have been recorded and published on Northvolt's intranet. The bankruptcy administrator has also continuously posted information on their website, according to him.

Questions could also be sent to HR via a so-called "ticket system," explains Kubu. The setup is that HR is supposed to answer the questions first. If HR doesn’t have the answer, the question goes to the bankruptcy administrator. But there are many employees with many questions across many channels, notes Kubu, which means the process can take time: "It can be noted that HR has so far handled almost 1,100 incoming emails."

When asked about inaccuracies in wage guarantee payments, Kubu says that these will be corrected later, after investigation, through "supplementary salary guarantee decisions":

"HR compiles all incoming information about possible inaccuracies and sends it to the bankruptcy administrator."

Decisions regarding salary guarantees are an "administrative process that takes time," continues Kubu: "Before the bankruptcy administrator gets the necessary information from the respective company, the raw data has to be extracted from the system provider, reviewed and verified, and processed by HR. 

Afterward, the bankruptcy administrator receives the necessary data, which is checked, and then wage guarantee decisions are made. Only after that are the wage guarantee decisions uploaded to Skatteverket's system. It is Skatteverket that finally verifies the decisions before they implement the payment. The salary guarantee decisions are based on the data the administrator receives from the respective company."