American company ordered to pay 75.000 Euros to wrongfully terminated employee

A few days ago a Dutch court ordered a Florida – based company to pay a compensation of 75.000 Euros to an employee. The employee had been fired because he had refused to keep his work computer’s camera on the whole day, as required by the company, being concerned with the fact that this was an invasion of his privacy.

After he was fired he took his former employer to court, suing for wrongful termination; the judges recognized the issue and stated that the American company’s regulation was a violation of the employee’s privacy and were in violation of data protection laws. The worker had already stated his complaint with his employer, also stating that they already could see his shared screen while he was working, and that it was not necessary for him to keep the camera on.

Rather than a matter of personal data protection, this was a matter of the employee’s right to privacy, as stated in Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights: the court argued that the company’s request was disproportionate and intrusive of the worker’s privacy.

According to Dutch law, an appeal is possible for the company within three months of the ruling. In the aftermath of the ruling, the company shut down its offices in Rijswijk, Netherlands, where the plaintiff worked.