The Sub-District Court in Maastricht upheld
the summary dismissal of an employee who travelled to an orange
zone destination despite his employer's COVID-19 travel
restrictions. The court found it relevant that the employee had
already received a number of final warnings and was therefore
someone who was “on notice” but nevertheless ignored
his employer's policy.
Background
The employee, a fork-lift truck driver, was given a formal
warning in November 2019 for two incidents. In the first incident,
he grabbed a colleague by the throat during an argument. The second
incident was a sort of Houdini act, where the employee got himself
wrapped up in cling film by a wrapping machine to test whether he
was strong enough to escape.
