A veteran employee was dismissed from his job after the company changed ownership and the previous manager opened a competing business. The company suspected that the employee, who maintained friendly relations with the previous manager and even visited his business, was passing information and clients to him, and summoned him to a hearing regarding these suspicions, while refusing his request to present documents substantiating them.
The Court held that flaws occurred in the dismissal process and ordered the payment of compensation to the employee. Generally, a proper hearing process requires the employer to present an evidentiary basis for its claims and allow the employee to properly defend against them, and relying merely on feelings or unfounded suspicions is insufficient, particularly when not preceded by warning conversations regarding the employee's performance or loyalty. Here, the employer based the dismissal process on mere suspicion of aiding a competitor, without presenting any evidence prior to or during the hearing, and without proving that it had previously warned the employee about a lack of cooperation. The fact that the employee possessed significant power and knowledge and was not quick to assist the new management does not necessarily prove a breach of trust and the transfer of secrets. Therefore, the dismissal was executed with a procedural flaw and the company was ordered to compensate the employee.