Rightly dismissed after threatening manager with police emergency number | RTL News

The woman has worked in the sales department of a South Holland insect screen store since 2021. In October last year, she was summarily dismissed because she had warned the company’s purchasing manager in an email about a confrontation that could end very badly.

“If you continue with this silly policy, it will escalate into an ugly clash,” she wrote in an English-language email to the manager. “I can’t promise you a happy ending. Remember the police emergency number: 112.”

No happy ending

The woman sent the email a day after she received an official written warning from the purchasing manager and the head of human resources, including for not following procedures regarding sales orders.

The emailed threat led to consternation within the company. That day, the employer had the women work in separate and lockable rooms to avoid a confrontation. The purchasing manager was picked up from work that day by her husband. The following working day, the woman was suspended and the manager worked from home as a precaution.

Severance pay

Following the email and an investigation, the sales employee was summarily dismissed later that month. However, the woman was not satisfied with that. She went to court to demand almost 22,000 euros in severance payments.

In court, the woman argued that dismissal would be too harsh a punishment given the circumstances. She said she sent the email after a sleepless night and in an ’emotional state’. She is also said to suffer from mental complaints.

Mandarine

Moreover, the purchasing manager is said to have taken a narcissistic and superior attitude and felt threatened by her in her position. Because the sales employee speaks Mandarin, she was able to communicate with suppliers in China, just like the manager.

Finally, during a recent company barbecue, the manager allegedly made comments about her weight and choice of clothing in front of colleagues.

Serious threat

The judge was not impressed by the defense, according to a ruling made public yesterday. According to the Rotterdam subdistrict judge, the threat is serious enough to put the woman on the street.

“Given the wording and the mention of 112 in red numbers, this passage can only be read as a threat,” the ruling said. Because the employer must ensure a safe working environment, the intervention was justified according to the judge.

No impulse

Moreover, the judge does not think that the email was sent on an impulse, given the length of one and a half pages and the content, which was ‘thought through’. The fact that the message was also sent to other managers does not indicate an impulsive action either. Finally, in the absence of medical substantiation, the judge finds that mental complaints do not count as a mitigating circumstance.

The sales employee can therefore waive her demanded compensation for unfair dismissal. The woman is not even entitled to a regular transition payment, because the dismissal is due to her own behavior. What did not help her is that during the trial she continued to express resentment towards the manager, of whom she said she was ‘fed up’.