Alleen invoeren van een gedragscode is niet genoeg!

Thursday, 03 April 2008 09:47

An increasing number of employers are adopting codes of conduct to prevent unwanted employee behaviour, such as surfing the internet and use of e-mail for purposes that are not work-related. It is emerging from case law that subdistrict courts are great believers in the existence of such a code of conduct in order to judge whether it be right that an employee has been summarily dismissed. However, the introduction of a code of conduct is often insufficient for you as an employer to refer to the code. More is expected of employers. There are myriad verdicts in case law on employees overstepping their bounds. It regularly happens that employees visit pornographic websites during working hours or carry out their duties under the influence of drugs. In order to prevent such misconduct, it is advisable to draw up a code of conduct in which, for example, (personal) use of internet and e-mail traffic is forbidden or subject to a high degree of restriction. In addition to this, it is also advisable to impose clear sanctions in the event of infringement of the code of conduct, such as a warning or dismissal. If a code of conduct is introduced, an employer is expected to pay attention to the implementation of the code of conduct within the organization. Thus it is advisable to communicate the code of conduct clearly within the company, by means of the intranet or a performance review, for example. The employee will then have difficulty using the excuse that he was not informed of the code. In addition to this, it is advisable to incorporate the code of conduct in the staff regulations. This will then apply to all employees by means of an incorporation clause in the employment agreement. It is also possible to have the employee sign upon commencement of employment prior to receipt of the staff regulations and the code of conduct. But be careful! A code of conduct is no guarantee of any summary dismissal always holding out. If an employee has a long and impeccable record of service with the firm, this can be a factor in the assessment of the summary dismissal. In such a case, the employer will be expected to have resorted to issuing a warning instead of dismissal. If, then, you are wishing to impose a sanction on an employee as a result of unwanted behaviour or draw up a code of conduct, please get in touch with Jeffrey Kenens T +31 (0)71 - 535 80 63 or Roos Koster-Mulder from the Employment Law division for indicative advice T +31 (0)71 - 535 80 39.