Summary Juliane had contested against her termination in an employment tribunal Picture: Shutterstock
(Web Desk) – A woman in Germany was fired from her job after being accused of eating a co-worker’s chocolate bar, only to be rehired after reaching a settlement with her employer.
According to Telegraph, the 64-year-old, known only as Juliane L, from Heidelberg had been working for over 30 years in a care home facility for disabled children when she was fired from her work in February without any notice and was accused of eating a colleague’s chocolate bar worth 2.50 Euros.
The woman was also accused of using work washing machine for personal purposes. Employer of Juliane L also accused her of stealing various items from the premises of the office, which included a jute bag which belonged to a colleague. The bag was reportedly gifted to a student as a secret Santa present.
She took the case to the an employment tribunal where the judge found no clarification to the accusations of the bag’s theft by accepting the plea from the woman that she had no knowledge it belonged to someone else. The judge also dismissed the accusation of the private usage of the washing machine.
"Infringing on someone s property is still not funny," Judge Daniel Obst said, reports The Local. The judge stated that, “Taking someone else’s property is no laughing matter,” he said. “But this breach could have been punished with a warning.”
Both sides accepted a compromise proposed by the judge, under which the company rescinded her dismissal, and instead gave her a formal warning for eating the chocolate bar.
“We do not want to hurt the woman,” a spokesman for SRH-Gruppe said. “I leave with my head held high. I have done nothing wrong,” Juliane L is reported to have said.
Juliane L was due to retire within a few years.
