Una, 40, injured at work at Zara: "We don't believe you"

Una Subotic, 40, was ordered to stand still in a taped area and only move her upper body while unpacking clothes.

At times, she worked in a darkened warehouse with a headlamp. Recently, she was fired after a work injury at Zara's warehouse.

"They said 'we don't believe you' when I showed them the medical certificate. I was shocked," says Una.

Yesterday Croatian Una Subotic watched Aftonbladet/200 Seconds program about all the misconduct at the clothing company Zara, owned by Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega.

"When I saw the end of your program, where Ortega got off his luxury yacht in my homeland Croatia, I thought now I have to go out and tell what I've been through," says Una.

She started working at the warehouse in Zara's Solna store in Mall of Scandinavia in July 2021. Una describes the warehouse as overcrowded, dirty, and messy.

"We didn't have lights in one of the warehouses. At first, we used the flashlights on our phones to see when we worked there. After three months, they bought us three headlamps. It was a disaster," Una says.

She believes that Zara could have fixed the lights in a day if they had wanted to, but it didn't happen. 200 Seconds has been in contact with a former employee in another city, who also tells that they were forced to work with headlamps in the dark:

"To save energy, they didn't turn on all the lights. So it was dark when we received deliveries and opened boxes in the morning in the store. We couldn't see what was written on the labels and complained. Then the HR manager wrote that she would buy headlamps. We thought she was joking until she actually bought headlamps," the former employee says.

Una Subotic often worked without breaks from seven in the morning until 1PM, because there was so much to do. When she unpacked clothes, it had to be done at a table, standing in a yellow-black taped area:

"The manager talked to me as if I were an idiot, saying 'here you stand, you only move your upper body, not your legs, otherwise it takes too long.' But the area was bigger than the one I saw in 200 Seconds video yesterday.

When one of her managers came to work infected during the coronavirus pandemic, and 'half the store got sick,' Una demanded a meeting:

"She just said 'what are you talking about?' Then she made sure I didn't get any extra hours, and suddenly no one talked to me for a month," says Una.

In December 2022 her father died, and Una traveled to Croatia for the funeral. Her boss claimed she couldn't take time off, even though she was entitled to three days.

After Una had been in her home country for two days, the boss contacted her asking 'when will you be done, when are you coming home?'

In January 2023, a delivery of about 200 clothing boxes arrived at Zara, which Una and her colleagues had to unpack. Usually, they could transport the boxes on small carts, but that day the boss forgot the key to the storage room, and they had to drag the boxes by hand.

"Boxes full of jeans are very heavy. When I was about to place the 20th box on the table, I felt something crack in my back," Una explains.

Since then, she hasn't been able to work. But despite Una getting a work injury, she hasn't received any sick benefits.

"The day after I came home from the hospital, when I was still on morphine, my boss called and said 'I've talked to the store manager about you not being useful anymore, we've decided to reduce the hours in your contract,'" says Una.

Even though she has a medical certificate stating that she injured her back while lifting heavy boxes, and that a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan shows Una has a herniated disc, Zara refuses to acknowledge the work injury.

"I have three damaged discs in my back. But they said 'we don't believe you' when I showed them the medical certificate. I was shocked," she says.

She has written numerous emails to Zara, but hasn't received any responses for a long time. Not until March 21st this year, when she was informed via email that she was no longer employed by the clothing company. The email also stated:

"In regards to your request for an explanation from your previous managers, unfortunately, we cannot arrange that at present."

She also doesn't think the labor union Handels has acted in a good manner:

"Their only advice was 'don't sign anything.' I understood that myself. I was so disappointed, I thought they would help me, for example, with a lawyer, so that I could sue Zara," says Una.

Handels press secretary Jonathan Pasic comments on Una's statements as follows:

"It is clear that Zara, as an employer, has often behaved poorly. This is unacceptable. We often receive calls from members at Zara and assist our members as far as we can. Handels elected representatives in workplaces do important work. Una´s story is terrible, but unfortunately, we cannot comment on individual cases."

Una Subotic has lost ten kilograms since she was injured, hasn't had any income since January 2023, and is forced to live off her husband:

"Zara is the worst thing that has happened in my life. I came to Sweden when I was 34 because I wanted to work hard and earn money. I don't want to live off welfare. Now I'm considering moving back to Croatia," she says.

Zara's press department writes in a comment:

"We at Zara do not comment on individual cases. But we urge Una Subotic to contact us if she wants to ask questions related to her case."

* This text has been translated with support of ChatGPT and reviewed by Aftonbladet.

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