The dismissed prison guard went to court because she believed that she should receive benefits. But the judge agreed with the benefits agency. This is evident from two rulings by the court in The Hague that were made public on Friday.
Terrorists
The woman worked for the Judicial Institutions Agency (DJI) for nineteen years as a prison guard in De Schie in Rotterdam. This is one of the most secure prisons in the Netherlands, including a special terrorist department. Willem Holleeder was imprisoned in De Schie for years.
In 2018, the prison became controversial after a prisoner managed to escape by crawling into a garbage bag. However, this was not a reason for all employees to be on high alert afterwards. For example, a watch commander and a group of complex security guards violated a whole host of safety regulations at the beginning of 2020.
Pizza delivery
For example, they regularly clamped open the doors of a safety lock with brushes and plastic containers. As a result, the doors could no longer close automatically, so that the guards could walk around freely. Also, one evening in February, they opened the prison gate after 10 o’clock in the evening to let in a pizza delivery, contrary to regulations. The pizza box was not checked for contraband or weapons.
After the employer was informed of the incidents by a colleague present, the guards involved were suspended. A long dismissal procedure followed, during which the subdistrict court judge initially ruled that the employees could not be put out on the street.
When the Hague court gave the green light for this, the guards were still dismissed in the autumn of 2021.
Own fault
It now appears that the issue has come to a head for one of the prison guards. The woman applied for unemployment benefits from the UWV, but was refused. According to the benefits agency, the woman herself was to blame for losing her job.
However, the woman was not satisfied with that. After losing an objection procedure with the UWV, she went to court. There she argued that the authority had been too strict. The UWV would also have paid too little attention to her personal circumstances, and a colleague would have received benefits.
Unsafe situation
In an interim ruling, the Hague court ruled last June that there was indeed a culpable dismissal, because the woman had not complied with the safety protocols, which had created an unsafe situation with a risk of flight and smuggling.
The court did find that the UWV had indeed not sufficiently taken into account the woman’s personal circumstances when refusing the benefit. According to her, as a result of the dismissal she suffered major financial and psychological consequences, including depression.
Defect repaired
However, that did not mean that the prison guard still received the desired unemployment benefit. The judge gave the UWV the opportunity to take her personal circumstances into account in the judgment.
After the benefits agency had done this but had nevertheless come to the same conclusion, the judge ruled in the final ruling that the prison guard will indeed not receive unemployment benefits.
