Woman fired after repeatedly arriving 40 minutes early at office, court backs employer

AN eager employee was fired from her job after regularly arriving early at work for nearly two years. The laid-off woman took the company to court, challenging her termination. However, the court decided that the employer was not at fault.

What had happened?

The 22-year-old employee in Spain repeatedly arrived at her office 40 minutes early, between 6.45 am and 7 am, for nearly two years, reported the Metro. On multiple occasions, she was asked not to arrive ahead of her shift, which started at 7:30 am. The employer alleged that though she ended up arriving early, she had nothing to do at that time.

However, when she refused to listen, her frustrated boss fired her on the grounds of serious misconduct. As per the outlet, the employer argued that she wasn’t contributing anything by arriving early, but was only ignoring instructions.

Woman takes company to court:

The woman appealed to the Social Court of Alicante in Spain, alleging that her dismissal was unjust. The judges, according to the outlet, heard that she continued to arrive early despite multiple verbal and written warnings.

Among the 19 occasions she arrived early in the office, there were times when she tried to log in through the company app even before reaching the company campus.

Her employer also accused her of breach of trust. The court decided that she showed a pattern of disloyalty. Backing the employer, the court said that her ‘excessive punctuality’ wasn’t an issue. However, it was her refusal to abide by workplace rules.

The court ruled that she breached Article 54 of the Spanish Workers’ Statute, reported the outlet.

According to reports, another company employee stated that the Spanish woman “disrupted team coordination” by consistently arriving early at the office.