New case law – case concerning the dismissal of an employee at an insurance company who made unauthorised entries in the customer management system (AD 2026 nr 19)

Question whether an insurance company had legal grounds to dismiss an employee who carried out unauthorised searches in the company’s customer management system, or alternatively, valid grounds for termination with notice. The case also concerned whether the employee’s personal financial situation constituted valid grounds for termination with notice.

The Labour Court found that the searches were, in themselves, unauthorised and that the employee’s conduct was objectionable. The court assessed the seriousness of the breach of the employment contract and, taking into account, among other things, the purpose of the conduct and the fact that it was a one-off incident, found that there were insufficient grounds for dismissal. The Labour Court further found that neither the unauthorised searches nor the employee’s personal financial situation, considered separately or in combination, constituted valid grounds for termination with notice. The Labour Court has therefore declared the dismissal invalid.

Since there were grounds for serious criticism of the employee regarding the unauthorised searches, the Labour Court set the general damages for the unjustified dismissal at a lower amount than usual.

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