Will this year's Christmas get-togethers make for fun statements again?

Most of this year's Christmas parties have already taken place. Also in our office: last Friday we celebrated the beginning of the Christmas vacations! Of course I can't tell you any more about that... But I can report that - as far as I know (and as far as I can remember) - there were no accidents or other nasty things.

Misconduct Christmas party (#MeToo): instant dismissal possible?

At another Christmas party, however, things were different and an employee was summarily dismissed for allegedly making insulting and hurtful remarks - under the influence of (too much) liquor - toward a colleague. The employee had also touched the colleague. The employer did not take it lying down and summarily dismissed this employee a week later. Despite nearly 40 years of employment.

However, the subdistrict court found the summary dismissal a "bridge too far. According to the subdistrict court, while it was established that the employee's remarks were hurtful and the groping was unacceptable, the employer should have opted for another, less far-reaching, sanction. Consider an official warning and/or a temporary suspension. The documents did not show that the employer had considered a less far-reaching sanction at all, nor that it had given the employee the opportunity to tell his side of the story following the incident. Moreover, this was a one-time incident and the employee regretted his behavior. In addition, because the employer could not prove that the employee had previously been addressed about such behavior and had been given the opportunity to improve his behavior, the immediate dismissal was unjustified. Finally, the employee's long service and age also played a role in this.

Still, a Merry Xmas to the employee....

The employer thus drew the short straw in this matter - proverbially. Instant dismissal is therefore the most far-reaching means of "punishing" an employee, and it is therefore not allowed. That does not mean it is not possible at all. If the employee in this matter had already been called to account for such behavior several times, his behavior at the Christmas party might have been the proverbial straw for the subdistrict court. Previous case law shows that instant dismissal due to misconduct during the Christmas party is possible under certain circumstances (see, for example, this judgment of the Arnhem-Leeuwarden Court of Appeal).

Read this statement? Go to: ECLI:NL:RBAMS:2018:3327