1 – Minor offense, nevertheless dismissal
Last year, too, the most imaginative dismissals were the so-called ‘little cases’, in which employees were fired for a relatively minor offense.
This year we counted about ten, including a remarkable number about thirsty and hungry employees. They were fired for drinking water, cola of a juice or removing a pack of cookies.
The most notable case in this category was the dismissal of a drugstore worker who took some odor testers and a plastic bag with her. She not only lost her job, but also received a claim of 18,000 euros from her boss.
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2 – Physical Aggression
Another type of dismissal case that always raises eyebrows concerns physical aggression in the workplace. There have been quite a few of these in the past year as well.
For example, a department manager at a shipyard threatened with a knife, colleagues went to a chip factory together on the fist, and became an annoying customer in a supermarket outside beaten.
A special case was the dismissal of a Coolblue installer, who closed the throat of a sarcastic colleague. Coolblue put the man out on the street. Difficult, because he was prominently depicted as a model employee on the company buses.
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3 – Verbal Aggression
Verbal aggression also brought a number of dismissal cases to court in the past year. In this way, two employees could pack their bags, which their bosses called for ‘asshole’ and ‘liar’ in ‘idioot’ en fucking dictator’.
A boa who is boss and in a group app insulted colleagues, was more gracious. The court found the insults ‘disrespectful, subversive and offensive’, but ruled that the man should not be thrown out for it.
The most unusual case involved a car mechanic who left the name-calling to his girlfriend. She called the garage owner ‘cunt employer’ and ‘big fat gnome’. She went on a rampage, he lost his job.
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4 – Theft
Theft is the number one reason for instant dismissal, we once wrote. There were plenty of examples of this again this year.
Think of the precious jewels in 518 smartphones, who went footy at Fedex. Or to the boa who full shopping carts did not pay with her daughter, who was a cashier at Albert Heijn.
A Jumbo cashier who put a found bracelet worth 269 euros from a customer in her pocket did not only lose her job. She also had to pay more than 5000 euros in damages. And a flower for the customer.
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5 – Fraud and cheating
A number of dismissal cases were also brought to court as a result of structural fraud or fraud. What about the two project supervisors at a construction company, which housing association Ymere lifted for 1.6 million euros. After they were evicted, they demanded their jobs back because their behavior was said to be ‘normal’.
The well-paid director of a leasing company was equally furious, who hired a consultant friend for millions from a ailing healthcare company and benefited from it himself.
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6 – Fat severance pay
Not only can you earn good money at the top of the business world, but the departure bonuses can also be generous. This is again apparent from the dismissal cases of directors and administrators that were reviewed this year.
For example from the financial director of Better Bed (362,000 euros) and a quarreling driver of real estate advisor CBRE (865.00 euros). The fired CEO of televisieconcern RTL was even able to add 2.4 million euros after a long wait.
The most notorious case was the bizarre quarrel between top entrepreneur Gerard Sanderink and his ex-girlfriend, also ex-director of some of his companies. she grabbed in addition to severance pay, but incurred more than 2 million in penalties.
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7- Missed fat departure bonuses
Even at the top, of course, sometimes a lump sum is not paid. That happened to one this year tax specialist at Deloitte, and the former right hand of John de Mol. They lost lawsuits for 2.8 million and one million respectively.
The most talked-about rejected severance package of this year must be that of the top man of liquor and perfume trade Van Caem Klerks. He was put on the street and was able to whistle at the transfer fee of 2 million euros demanded by him. Cause: strippers, anti-Semitic statements and dubious trades.
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8- Cultural clashes
Even in the cultural sector remarkable dismissal cases surfaced last year. That’s how it went Van Gogh Museum two executives on the street, who had previously been praised for their commercial policy.
An architect from the renowned Mecanoo agency was initially awarded 350,000 euros by the judge, but saw that lump sum on appeal. past her nose to go.
For a reviewer of De Volkskrant who flirted with young writers an appeal was in fact favourable. According to the court, the book reviewer was ultimately not guilty of sexual harassment and lies. The severance payment was just as controversial as the case: 400,000 euros.
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9 – Painful Matters
Sometimes things are almost too painful to write down or publish. This applied to an employee who lost her job because she smelled of urine for medical reasons. Also about the publication of a piece about the employee who was fired because he wrong body cremated, we doubted.
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10 – Unbelievable
This year also brought up a number of layoffs that were almost unimaginable or unbelievable. For example, a computer engineer lost his job just before his retirement because he tried to kissing company receptionist.
A captain of a sea-going ship had more luck, who had himself massaged naked by sailors for relaxation. The shipping company wanted to get rid of the man, but the judge canceled the application for dismissal.
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Or what about the Lidl warehouse employee who child porn showed, threatened them (“I’ll cut your throat”) and demanded a severance payment of 360,000 euros after being fired.
The craziest case involved a district manager of a technical wholesaler, who did not show up for work because his best friend is said to have died. The woman, however, turned out to be very much alive; the man could look for another employer.
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Cases apart: corona
What is of course missing in this top 10 are the corona-related dismissal cases. Not because they weren’t there, quite the contrary. For the second year in a row, corona led to a lot of social debate in 2021, which again extended to employment law matters.
These varied from discussions about face masks, vaccination policy, replacement work, risky holiday destinations, staying at home with corona complaints or showing up at work with corona. The cases were so diverse that we made a separate top 10 of them. That list will be released tomorrow.
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