Rotterdam District Court, 9 January 2025, ECLI:NL:RBROT:2025:319
An employee drove a company car into a ditch while on holiday, under the influence of alcohol (three times the legal limit). On 9 January 2025, Rotterdam District Court ruled that the summary dismissal following this incident was valid.
Facts
The employee started working for the employer in November 2017. On 3 September 2024, the employee was summarily dismissed following a single-vehicle accident with the company car while on holiday. A breath test showed the employee was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. The employee admitted to having had too much to drink. Driving under the influence conflicted with both the company car’s loan agreement and the employer’s company rules. In addition, the employee had held her driving licence for less than a year and had not reported the accident to the employer in good time. The employer was informed by a notification from the car rental company, via a link to a news article about the accident.
Ruling
The employee disagreed with the dismissal and went to court. She claimed fair compensation of just over EUR 90,000 gross, the transition payment of approximately EUR 7,000 gross, and compensation for irregular termination of approximately EUR 13,000 gross.
The court rejected all of the employee’s claims. The court found that the employee had acted seriously culpably by causing an accident with the company car while under the influence of alcohol. By causing the accident while drunk, the employee had breached not only her agreements with the employer (the car policy) but also the Road Traffic Act. Although the subdistrict court understood the employee felt ashamed, she should have reported the accident (more quickly) to her employer. These circumstances led the subdistrict court to conclude that the summary dismissal was validly given. The court ruled that the employee must even compensate the employer for the damage to the car and the costs relating to her driving licence. The employee must also pay the legal costs.
Conclusion
This ruling underlines the importance of clear agreements on the use and misuse of a company car in the loan agreement, a car policy, or the employment contract. It is also worthwhile including a provision on the timeframe within which employees must report incidents to the employer, and attaching consequences to this.
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