Bakery Owner Fired After Viewing CCTV Footage
Spanish Court Rules 'Invasion of Privacy and Unfair Dismissal'
A bakery in Barcelona, Spain, that fired a female employee for urinating in baking bowls is now facing a situation where it must pay compensation.
On the 26th (local time), according to the British Daily Telegraph, the Catalonia High Court in Spain recently ruled that the bakery must pay compensation to the employee after using evidence collected from closed-circuit television (CCTV) to justify the dismissal.
The CCTV footage obtained by the bakery clearly showed a female employee squatting in the bakery workspace in 2018 and urinating into several bowls used for baking. The employee claimed, "I thoroughly washed the bowls containing urine and stored them with other clean utensils," but she received a dismissal notice that summer. Ultimately, the employee filed an objection with the court against the dismissal.
The court confirmed that the bakery owner did not inform employees about the installation of CCTV and that the bakery lacked a designated changing room, forcing the employee to change clothes in the workspace.
According to Spanish law, installing and recording with CCTV in spaces designated for employees' rest and leisure, such as changing rooms, restrooms, and dining areas, is strictly prohibited as it infringes on privacy rights. The bakery argued that the CCTV recording was legal because the area was a place where food was produced, but the court rejected this, citing the absence of a separate rest area for employees.
Furthermore, the court ruled that the bakery owner must pay the employee 250,336 euros (approximately 36 million won) as compensation for the wages lost due to the dismissal.
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