During an NGO board meeting, the CEO was requested to leave the meeting and, in his absence, discussions began regarding termination of his employment due to suspicions of irregularities. At the end of the meeting, it was decided to dismiss him immediately.
The Labor Court held that the CEO is entitled to compensation for failure to duly hold a hearing prior to termination of employment. The more serious the conduct attributed to an employee, whether it is a disciplinary offense or other serious act, the more a hearing is required to be duly held and the employee must be allowed to defend his good name and defend himself against the allegations attributed to him. Thus, an employer is obligated to put in writing the allegations against the employee and present them to him before the hearing. The NGO relied on an oral conversation with the CEO, that was not documented in the minutes or any other written correspondence, from which it was allegedly understood that the CEO had agreed to termination and waived his right to a hearing. However, the CEO did not agree to his termination and after the preliminary conversation even requested to set a board meeting in order to present his work to the board. The board meeting suddenly took a turn with a discussion of the dismissal of the CEO when the discussion took place in his absence, after he was requested to leave the room, and without the CEO knowing the nature of the suspicions and allegations attributed to him, which were hidden from him even after the termination. Therefore, the CEO was not duly given an opportunity to present his arguments prior to his termination in a manner that requires the NGO to pay compensation to the CEO for failing to duly hold a hearing prior to termination.