Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75,000 in court
A remote employee of a U.S. business who was fired for refusing to leave his webcam on while he was working was awarded roughly 75,000 euros by a Dutch court for wrongful termination. The resident of Diessen, Noord-Brabant, was hired by the the Rijswijk branch of Chetu Inc., a software development company headquartered in Miramar, Florida.
Employee was ordered to take part in a virtual training period called a “Corrective Action Program.” He was told that during the period he would have to remain logged in for the entire workday with screen-sharing turned on and his webcam activated.
When employe was terminated for refusal to obey such requrement, he brought the case to the Zeeland-West Brabant court in Tilburg. The court agreed that the termination was not legally valid. The demand to keep the camera activated was an unreasonable intrusion on the plaintiff’s privacy rights, the court ruled. The court ordered Chetu Inc. to pay the man over 2,700 euros in unpaid salary, 8,375 euros for wrongful termination, 9,500 euros in worker transition assistance, and 50,000 euros in additional compensation.
Source: Dutch employee fired by U.S. firm for shutting off webcam awarded €75,000 in court | NL Times
