- Date:
- 23 Apr 2012
The Danish High Court has affirmed that it was okay for an employee who was already under notice to be summarily dismissed for criticising management to customers via LinkedIn
The Danish High Court has affirmed that it was okay for an employee who was already under notice to be summarily dismissed for criticising management to customers via LinkedIn.
In August 2011, Norrbom Vinding commented on a district court judgment concerning a sales rep who was under notice and had been released from the duty to work, but was then summarily dismissed when during the notice period he complained via LinkedIn about the company and why he had been dismissed to an employee of the company’s biggest customer.
The district court held that the summary dismissal was justified because of the sales rep’s gross disloyalty. The fact that the sales rep had believed that the correspondence via LinkedIn was private did not change this.
Click
here to see our earlier commentary on the case.
Judgment affirmed
In his appeal, the summarily dismissed sales rep pointed out that no one else had seen the contents of the correspondence, but to no avail. The summary dismissal was justified.
In his appeal, the summarily dismissed sales rep pointed out that no one else had seen the contents of the correspondence, but to no avail. The summary dismissal was justified.
The High Court thus let the lower court’s judgment stand, agreeing with its decision and reasoning.
Norrbom Vinding notes
- that the judgment confirms that employers may be justified in summarily dismissing employees for making disloyal statements about their employer via their LinkedIn profile, regardless of whether the employee considers the correspondence to be private.
