Alex Trelinski
A SECURITY guard who was fired for watching pornography on a works mobile phone was unfairly sacked, according to the Basque Country Supreme Court.
The man from A Coruña has been reinstated and awarded €7,500 in compensation.
The court ruled the security firm Trisquel Proteccion violated his privacy by tracking his work phone history without permission.
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The company had also not told him that the phone was for company business use only.
The Basque judges said: “On its own, viewing sexual content during working hours on some occasions cannot be held to constitute a serious breach of contractual good faith and a culpable cause of the dismissal of the offending employee.”
The ruling also pointed out a lack of company policy over warning workers about the risk of dismissal if they are found watching porn on shift.
The court stated: “Employers must establish criteria for the use of mobile phones while always respecting the minimum standards of protection of their privacy in accordance with social use and the rights that are constitutionally and legally recognised.”
It added that workers’ representatives must take part in the formulation of such criteria.
The court heard that Trisquel Proteccion management had checked the security guard’s phone after other employees who used it complained that it was running more slowly than usual.
They found the pornographic pages, linked them to the worker and fired him from the company.
