Wedel Software failed to initiate an improvement process
A software developer who is slow to move should not be summarily dismissed. Failure to complete tasks or to complete them on time is not in itself an urgent reason to dismiss someone without an improvement process. Wedel Software, a Hague supplier of software for radio, TV and other media, has been ordered to double the severance payment on appeal.
An employee who, according to Wedel, could not move forward, receives fifteen grand for incorrect dismissal. The company with headquarters in The Hague, founded by Fresh FM founder Raoul Wedel, should have entered into discussions with the slow developer. Wedel Software should also have given the forty-something more guidance and offered an improvement program. Requests for this were ignored. And the appeal judge blames Wedel for that.
The software company criticized the employee’s loitering in a Teams conversation, followed by an email just before Christmas. The employee was asked to pay urgent attention to the fact that leads did not receive any follow-up or did not receive sufficient follow-up. In addition, he was told that tasks assigned to him in Jira were not being completed or were not being completed on time.
Packing rushes
The employee was then told that confidence in him had fallen to an all-time low. His manager said he could not assume that the simplest tasks assigned to him were actually carried out. The email ended with a final warning. If the software developer neglected his duties again, this would be interpreted as refusal to work, resulting in immediate dismissal. Barely two months later, Wedel’s patience ran out. The man could immediately pack his bags.
The judge agrees with the man’s defense that he was asked for the position and that he did not have specific knowledge or experience for that work. Nor has he suggested that he would have one. His job description did not mention that he had to give presentations and demonstrations to customers, while Wedel later accused him of failing in that regard.
The fact that the man did not perform 50 percent of his duties as his employer claimed is not grounds for dismissal. This occurs when someone refuses to perform tasks. The judge notes that the man had no knowledge and experience in this industry and had not previously held such a position. The judge also took into account that the man had to perform his duties entirely from home and that guidance was only possible remotely by an employee who was abroad and who did not have a good command of the English language.
Russia connection
Wedel further alleged that the dismissed employee failed to complete a presentation course offered to him. But the certificate he submitted to the court shows that that statement is incorrect. According to the judge, it was therefore insufficiently proven that the man had refused to carry out reasonable instructions. It is likely that the work was over his head. The judge also finds it weak that the software company did not enter into a discussion with him about the causes of this and what was needed to improve his performance. He was also denied further guidance.
In the background, Wedel Software has a history of software development in Russia and Poland. Several developers were or are working from Donetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Two years ago, the Hague company suspended its activities in Russia, but some Russians continued to work for Wedel.