Dismissal too harsh a punishment for bus driver sexting female colleagues: court
A Rotterdam public transport company wrongly fired a bus driver on the spot for sending sexually suggestive photos and a voice recording to female colleagues, a Rotterdam court ruled.
The court said the behavior was unacceptable, but it ruled that summary dismissal was too severe a punishment, RTL reports. The court ordered the Rotterdamse Elektrische Tram (RET) to pay the driver more than 6,250 euros in total compensation. It also barred the company from recouping nearly 6,400 euros in training costs for his bus license.
The driver began work as a trainee bus driver at RET in September 2025. He reported sick in mid-November and returned two weeks later to an administrative role.
A few days later, at the end of November, two new female employees complained to the company. They described inappropriate and sexually unwanted behavior by the man.
According to the women, he sent them a voice recording of a panting woman. He also sent sexually suggestive photos. The photos showed himself scantily clad, including wearing a string. The women said they felt unsafe, intimidated, and very upset as a result.
RET asked the driver for an explanation. When he failed to appear for the meeting, the company fired him the same day for gross misconduct.
The driver challenged the dismissal in court. He argued that his colleagues could have known he was not interested in women because of his sexual orientation. He described the contact as “extremely amicable and friendly.” He said the women had “actively and without reservation participated in the communication and the ‘game.’” He added that nothing in the conversations indicated they felt unsafe or intimidated.
He emphasized that he had not sent the photos directly. Instead, he gave the women access to his Snapchat Stories account. That account included some images reflecting his homosexual orientation. He said the photos were not highly explicit, such as so-called dick pics.
He said the voice recording of the moaning woman fit the “playful setting in which they communicated with mutual consent.”
The Rotterdam cantonal judge ruled that the driver’s actions were nonetheless unacceptable. The judge called it “reprehensible” that he had taken the women’s phone numbers from an internal company list.
The judge also faulted him for not warning the women in advance that his Snapchat account contained sexually suggestive photos they might find offensive.
The judge concluded that the man “certainly did not behave as a good employee should.”
However, the court found summary dismissal disproportionate. It caused the driver to lose not only his income but also his eligibility for unemployment benefits. The judge said RET should have opted for a milder measure, such as a warning.
The driver does not want his job back. As a result, RET must pay him a standard transition compensation of about 250 euros for his short employment period.
The company was also ordered to pay roughly 3,500 euros in salary for the notice period. It must pay an additional 2,500 euros in damages for the unfair dismissal, which brings the total to more than 6,250 euros.
