The court has ruled in favour of a Lidl employee, after she was immediately dismissed for changing her working hours during a strike, in December 2023.
The court has decided to reverse the disciplinary dismissal of a Lidl employee with more than 25 years of service, considering the measure unjustified. The worker, who worked as an assistant store manager, was fired after changing her working hours during a strike in December 2023, without obtaining prior authorisation from the company.
The case dates back to the period in which the employee, responsible for managing the team since September 2023, received guidance on planning the work schedule during the December holiday.
The initial plan called for more than 100 hours of work, but the employee made changes to this schedule, reducing the workload on two days that coincided with the strike. This decision was made without the manager's consent, which led the company to allege breach of trust and disloyalty.
Lidl's reaction Lidl argued that the change in opening hours compromised the supermarket's operations, especially on busy days. The company considered that the employee's decision violated internal procedures and, therefore, applied the most severe disciplinary sanction: dismissal.
Initially, the court ruled in favour of the company, concluding that the employee had, in fact, violated internal rules. However, the case did not stop there. The Lidl employee appealed the decision, taking the case to the High Court of Justice, which reassessed the situation and ended up ruling in her favour. The court considered that the seriousness of the action did not justify immediate dismissal, especially because the change in hours occurred on strike days, when the store's activity was reduced, or even paralyzed.
Another relevant point for the turnaround in the process was the worker's professional history, which had more than two decades of service with no record of previous infractions. The court considered that the measure applied was disproportionate, considering the nature of the incident and the employee's long history at the company.
The HIgh Court reiterated that disciplinary sanctions must be proportional to the severity of the infractions committed, and that the company did not present sufficient evidence that the change made by the employee had serious consequences for the management of the store.
The court's decision not only annulled the dismissal, but also obliged Lidl to reinstate the employee or, alternatively, to pay compensatory damages. The measure was seen as a defense of labour rights and proportionality in companies' disciplinary actions.
Source https://postal.pt/ - Photo courtesy of Depositphotos.com
