On April 18, the latest edition English version of Focus on Integrity was released. ‘Focus on Integrity’ is a monthly newsletter, with short summaries of the latest rulings on workplace integrity violations. These include fraud, theft, corruption, (sexual) transgressive behavior, conflicts of interest, unlawful competition and evidence in employment cases. We include a brief hint of what makes the case interesting or how the employer might have handled it differently. No case is the same.
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Director who spends 1000 euros from employer in erotic centre is rightly dismissed with immediate effect
In 2020, the employee joined the employer as a director. In 2023, the employee was dismissed at a board meeting for embezzlement of funds and property, combined with other misconducts, such as holding private parties, hiring his partner without permission, unlawfully spending funds during vacations, and deleting company data from a laptop.
The court finds that the employee, as a director, seriously violated the interests of the employer. The court notes that this relates in particular to the payment of 1000 euros that belonged to the company in an erotic center in Austria and giving private parties.
Source: East Brabant District Court February 8, 2024, ECLI:NL:RBOBR:2024:557.
Note: In this case, the subdistrict court considered that the director had a high degree of independence and that the supervisory board was not involved in the day-to-day business. In this context, the board could not be blamed for not being aware of the director’s potentially culpable actions earlier.