Legal Advice: Gossip and backbiting
Teachers who are harmed by gossip don't have to give up. That proves a case in which Miss Hadewey enlisted the help of the AOb.
Picture: Type tank
As Mark Twain said, the gossip is already halfway around the world when the truth has yet to leave. Miss Hadewey is convinced like no other of the correctness of this statement. A few years ago, her employer at the time in Northeast Groningen offered her a temporary contract in violation of the collective labor agreement for primary education. During one of the lessons her permission was asked for this.
Bad loser
She thought she had little choice and agreed. She then contacted the legal service of the AOb. A letter was sufficient to convert that temporary employment contract into permanent employment. However, her employer turned out to be a bad loser and started a dismissal procedure based on an assumed breach of trust. After all, Ms had agreed to (again) temporary employment. After one year of litigation with the assistance of the AOb the Northern Netherlands court overturned the dismissal decision. Hadewey was retroactively reinstated and received a hefty back payment including the statutory increase and statutory interest on salary arrears.
After three quarters of a year, she finds a job with another employer. In temporary employment because it concerned replacement due to illness. Hadewey performs her duties to the satisfaction of colleagues, employer and parents. She is promised verbally that she will be hired in the new school year.
The preliminary witness interview can be a good option if you have suffered concrete damage due to incorrect or false information
And then it goes wrong. In some way, her employer hears that Hadewey is "criminally prosecuted, blacklisted by her previous employer" and that she "allegedly did something bad". Hadewey in bag and ashes for not renewing her temporary employment.
Witness questioning
Again she contacts the legal service. She has suffered significant damage. But who is the source of this gossip? Our law has a procedure for this. The preliminary hearing of witnesses. Intended to be able to estimate the evidence prior to a procedure.
On behalf of Hadewey, three colleagues, the director and the employer were summoned to make a statement. The colleagues were not very enthusiastic to testify, but it is a legal obligation for every Dutch person. All persons summoned were heard and their costs were reimbursed. Conclusion: if you feel that you have suffered concrete damage due to incorrect or false information, the preliminary witness interview may be a good option. After all, there is a difference between dealing creatively with the truth in a letter or a conversation and being heard under oath by the examining magistrate.
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