Hurling profanities at a manager would seem like a good reason to get fired. But not in Spain, apparently.
During a pay dispute, an employee in Gerona, Spain, called his boss a “son of a bitch.” He then called the manager “crazy” as he stormed out of the office.
Think someone in your company could do that without getting fired? This manager didn’t think so either.
But a judge thought differently. The employee sued for wrongful termination (like many European countries, Spain doesn’t have “at-will” employment) and won.
Said the judge: “The social degradation of language has caused the expressions used by the plaintiff to be commonly used in many situations, especially arguments,” the Telegraph reports. Therefore, it wasn’t a serious enough offense to warrant termination.
The court ordered the company reinstate the employee or pay him the equivalent of $9,500.
