An employee was terminated for health-related reasons – the court ruled the dismissal unlawful and ordered the employer to pay compensation
TEXT MIKKO NIKULA ILLUSTRATIONS ESKO KUMPUNEN
A company dismissed an employee due to them no longer being capable of three-shift work because of their illness. The district court and the court of appeal ruled that the termination was unlawful, because the employer would have had the opportunity to reorganise the work duties.
A production worker was diagnosed with a chronic bipolar disorder. The employee had been working at the company in three-shift work, with night shifts accounting for about a third of the working hours.
According to the occupational healthcare physician’s initial statement, the employee was fit for work as long as they did not work a significant number of night shifts. However, the employer requested a new medical statement, which stated that the employee could not perform night work at all. The new medical statement was issued without any additional examinations and without consulting the employee.
The employer terminated the employee’s employment. The reason given was that the employee was unable to work night shifts and no other suitable tasks were available. Furthermore, without causing unreasonable inconvenience to the company, it was not possible to organise the work in such a way that the employee would not have to work night shifts.
The employee considered the termination to be discriminatory. The employee still felt capable of working night shifts and believed that the employer had not explored the possibilities of reassigning the worker or adjusting their job duties. The employer had also not asked those working in single- or two-shift work if they wanted to switch to three-shift work. With the help of the chief shop steward and the occupational safety representative, the worker had learned that at least one employee would have been willing to switch schedules.
THE EMPLOYER DID NOT ADEQUATELY ASSESS THE EMPLOYEE’S ABILITY TO WORK
According to the district court’s ruling, the termination was unlawful. The employer appealed the ruling to the court of appeal, which largely upheld the district court’s decision.
The employer had not sufficiently assessed the employee’s ability to work or the possibility of reorganising the work. Because the employee’s illness was permanent, the court of appeal characterised the employer’s conduct as discrimination on the basis of disability.
The court of appeal held that the employer could rely on the physician’s statement that working night shifts posed a risk to the employee’s health. However, the termination could have been avoided by assigning the employee to other duties. The work rotation could have been organised so that several employees working in single- or two-shift schedules would have taken turns in three-shift work. The employee who fell ill could have worked on a single- or two-shift schedule until a permanent position for single- or two-shift work would have become available.
The court of appeal ordered the employer to pay the employee an amount equivalent to 10 months’ salary – nearly 29,000 euros – for wrongful termination, as well as 4,000 euros in compensation for discrimination. The employer was also required to pay severance pay and wages for the notice period, as well as all legal costs, including interest on late payments.
