Threats from employee led to summary dismissal

A driver worked in the container transport team of a waste company, along with four others. His work mainly consisted of transporting containers at a recycling center. The employee and one of his colleagues were unhappy that another colleague had been promoted to operations manager, as the position had not been advertised. The reason was that the employee’s colleague had knee problems and had been interested in a more office-based position.

The employee began to behave differently towards the new operations manager. He refused to say good morning to him, froze him out, and only spoke to him if it was work-related, as a few examples. Shortly after, the management decided to meet with the employee to discuss his behaviour. The company emphasized that his behaviour was unacceptable and that action was required if he continued.

However, after several colleagues continued to complain about the employee’s bad behaviour, the management decided to relocate him to the crane team. It justified the relocation with the fact that it was no longer possible to maintain a good working environment with him in the team.

Nonetheless, after the relocation, the employee called in sick due to stress. Afterward, several colleagues approached the management and told them that he had started threatening them because he wanted to know who had “stabbed him in the back” and, therefore, had been responsible for his relocation. The management decided to summarily dismiss the employee based on the threats.

You too, Brutus?

The court found that the summary dismissal was lawful, as the threats were a gross breach of the employment. There was no doubt that the employee had threatened his colleagues and that the colleagues had taken it seriously. Further, it only made it worse that the employee would not elaborate on what he had threatened his colleagues with.

Additionally, the court emphasised that the threats had created a noticeable and visible negative working environment. It was the company’s responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of the other employees.

IUNO’s opinion

Companies may consider to relocate an employee to another department if there are cooperation issues. However, not all relocations are possible. For example, employees can consider themselves terminated if tasks or working hours change materially.

IUNO recommends that companies react quickly if it turns out that there is a bad working environment. Companies have a duty to ensure a physically and psychologically safe working environment, and failing to take action can result in large claims for compensation.

[Industrial arbitration of 23 June 2023 in case FV 2022-1198]