Worker fired for embezzling €900,000 wants severance, claiming gambling addiction

A man who got fired from his job as a financial manager at a Rotterdam maritime company after being caught embezzling nearly a million euros from his employer has asked the court to award him severance pay. The man argued that, as a gambling addict, he couldn’t be held liable for his actions, and his employer should have taken better care of him. In 2022, a subdistrict court already ruled against the man. The appeals court in The Hague now did the same, according to a ruling published this week.

The man started working as a financial manager at the maritime company Hydromaster in 2019. During his time there, he secretly transferred money from Hydromaster and affiliate companies to personal bank accounts and accounts belonging to his own companies. By the time his employer discovered this in 2022 after a tip from the bank, the man had already embezzled nearly 800,000 euros. He withdrew another 89,000 euros from the company credit card.

Hydromaster dismissed the man and took him to court, demanding the full amount of the embezzlement back, plus 18,000 euros to cover the costs of the internal investigation into his conduct, and a fixed compensation of 6,000 euros.

The man, in turn, demanded his remaining salary, holiday pay, and a severance package. He disputed that he embezzled Hydromaster’s funds and used the company’s credit cards for his own purposes, suggesting that somebody else could have performed the transactions.

He also argued that he cannot be held responsible because “his actions were predominantly governed by his disorders.” According to the ruling, these included a severe gambling addiction, cluster headaches, hypersensitivity, and autism. And he argued that Hydromaster failed as an employer by not noticing his problems.

The appeals court ruled against the man, saying that there was ample evidence that he was behind the embezzlement. The court does not dispute that the man has been diagnosed with a gambling addiction, autism spectrum disorder, and cluster headaches, but the medical documents submitted don’t indicate that these disorders left him with no choice but to embezzle money from his employer.

“This may explain why he acted as he did, but that does not mean he did not actually intend to transfer the money to himself, nor does it mean he cannot be held liable for this,” the court said.

The court ordered the man to pay the damages claimed by Hydromaster, as well as over 18,000 euros in court costs.