She paid less than a tenner for carts full of groceries up to five times. So there is talk of theft and an investigating officer from the municipality of Rotterdam was rightly fired for it. After all, the boa has an exemplary function, the court ruled.
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The official in question made a mistake five times at the end of 2017 at Albert Heijn at the Hesseplaats in Ommoord. Although she unloaded her cart full of groceries on the belt, her daughter, who was behind the cash register, only let her pay amounts between 1.35 euros and 7.35 euros.
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It is not clear exactly how the theft was discovered, but when the judiciary opened an investigation and informed her employer about it, the municipality of Rotterdam decided to dismiss the boa for serious dereliction of duty.
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Assumption
The employee then went to court. The woman says she was under the impression that she had paid for the groceries. Because she paid with her daughter, she was not paying attention and did not notice that she had debited so little.
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It would have been obvious that she had stopped paying at her daughter’s cash register
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But the court does not agree. After all, the woman also stated that she discovered the first time at home that she had paid far too little and that she had subsequently become angry with her daughter. “It would have been obvious that she would have been extra alert afterwards and would not have paid at her daughter’s cash register,” said the judge.
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Integrity
The court does not see the fact that the boa functioned properly for twenty years, was burdened with severe stress at the end of 2017 and faced financial difficulties after her dismissal. “High demands may be placed on officials with investigative powers in terms of their responsibility, reliability and integrity,” said the judge. “This also means that they can be expected to comply with the laws and regulations.”
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