3.3
Het salaris van [verzoeker] bedroeg € 28.458,33 bruto per maand inclusief 8% vakantiebijslag. In artikel 3 van de arbeidsovereenkomst was een bonusregeling opgenomen (“at target” 35% van het bruto jaarsalaris, maximaal 52,5% van dat salaris), in artikel 4 de regeling van het ‘Long Term Incentive Plan’ (LTIP) en het ‘ [z] Top LTIP’. Zowel de toekenning van de bonus als de toekenning van LTIP en [z] Top LTIP waren onderworpen aan de discretionaire beslissingsbevoegdheid van GrandVision N.V. In artikel 11 van de arbeidsovereenkomst van [verzoeker] was een non-concurrentiebeding met een looptijd van twee jaar na het einde van de arbeidsovereenkomst opgenomen, alsmede een relatiebeding en een non-wervingsbeding met een looptijd van een jaar na het einde van de arbeidsovereenkomst.
3.4
Sinds zijn indiensttreding heeft [verzoeker] in België een reorganisatie doorgevoerd. In dat kader heeft hij in februari 2018 met instemming en medeweten van [senior vice president] de Country Manager voor België, [country manager] , en de manager GrandOptical voor België, [manager] , gedegradeerd en de HR-manager voor België, [HR-manager] , ontslagen. [verzoeker] heeft tegelijkertijd een drietal oud-collega’s in dienst laten treden. Eén van deze collega’s was [real estate manager] (verder: [real estate manager] ). Hij heeft de functie van Real Estate Manager gekregen.
3.5
Gedurende de maand maart 2018 hebben elf medewerkers van GrandVision in België zich bij hun manager/vertrouwenspersoon over het gedrag van [verzoeker] beklaagd. GrandVision heeft deze klachten in behandeling genomen en deze conform de GrandVision Whistle Blower Procedure van februari 2015 behandeld. De [general council] , General Counsel van GrandVision N.V., heeft een intern onderzoek uitgevoerd en heeft de betrokken klokkenluiders individueel en op een neutrale locatie geïnterviewd. Van deze bevindingen heeft hij op 11 april 2018 een rapportage opgemaakt. De namen van de klagers staan in de rapportage. GrandVision heeft de klachten gekwalificeerd als klachten over agressief en onrechtmatig gedrag, alcoholmisbruik, niet-professionele relatie en vriendjespolitiek, alsmede onrust binnen de organisatie. Zij heeft de volgende citaten uit de rapportage in het inleidend verzoekschrift vermeld:
Aggressief en onrechtmatig gedrag
“Mentioned he never experienced such abuse and irrational behaviour by a CEO before in his career. This is affecting him personally as this behaviour created a culture of fear, bullying and intimidation in the Belgian office with people working behind closed doors out of fear.”
“Verbally aggressive (even furious) but never physically aggressive with one exception on February 23, 2017 where [verzoeker] pushed an employee out of a conference room, followed by termination and employee suing the company.”
“On March 30 [verzoeker] called noting he found out that a non-professional relationship with [real estate manager] is part of the allegations and threatening him that it would be very costly and embarrassing if [z] were to dismiss him.”
“Notes an atmosphere of fear and bullying at the Belgian office (with a lot of shouting behind closed doors) put in place by [real estate manager] who seems to have carte blanche, as condoned by [verzoeker] .”
“On March 21 I and her HR colleague had closed their office door because of the cold and because they had to focus on issuing the salary slips that month. [verzoeker] and [real estate manager] came in and asked why the door was closed. When giving the aforementioned reasons [verzoeker] said to them these were “nonsense reasons”. [verzoeker] got more and more aggressive and both HR ladies felt intimidated, bullied and afraid.”
“ [verzoeker] is increasingly under influence of alcohol while in the office as evidenced by slurred speech, smell, irrational and aggressive behaviour.”
“Notes [verzoeker] is often under influence in the office (as evidenced by slurred speech, smell) and it is getting worse. He is afraid of 1:1’s with him as he does not know whether he will react rationally.”
“During the “Do Dare Care” launch meeting in Belgium on November 9, 2017 [verzoeker] was under influence. [verzoeker] is often under influence in the office, often already in the morning, as demonstrated by smell, red eyes and slurred speech.”
“During the June 2017 Benelux middle management meeting (approximately 60 Benelux participants) he got increasingly drunk and fell of his chair. He was carried to his room. He was sober again the next morning but did not apologize tot the group.”
“He was drunk during the party at the 2016 Lisbon leadership conference. He is frequently under influence in the Belgian office (smell, red eyes, slur, irrational, intimidating and aggressive behaviour, e.g. [verzoeker] came in C’s office late, under influence, stating at one point during the conversation “who is the real marketing manager here”).”
Niet-professionele relatie en vriendjespolitiek
“Suspects unprofessional relationship between [verzoeker] and real estate manager [real estate manager]
( [real estate manager] ) who he hired from previous employer [werkgever] .”
“ [verzoeker] put a strange message on the [z] WhatsApp group: “Degage?? Encore une fois tu pousse pousse pousse. Ca va mal passer tu sais tres bien. Arrete avec ca avant il est trop tard stp.” It is suspected this was personal and destined for [real estate manager] but sent in error.”
“ [real estate manager] was hired without respecting the HR procedures (…). [real estate manager] received a favourable treatment from the start.
October 2016: [real estate manager] hired with recommended salary of 4K (monthly) with [verzoeker] intervening and increasing to 4.8K.
April 2017: [real estate manager] given 10% salary increase, bigger lease car and 15% (iso 10%) bonus and higher net expense reimbursement. A had to adapt the tax ruling to allow for this higher net expense reimbursement.
August 2017: [real estate manager] received exceptional spot bonus of one months salary for succesfully insourcing RE platform. The procedure was not followed for this (i.e. K not informed, not discussed in MT).
December 2017: [real estate manager] was granted another salary increase”
Onrust binnen de organisatie
“Issues are gossiped about in the store network and one regional manager indicated he is afraid of [verzoeker] .”
“Notes the alcohol and relationship issues are gossiped about in stores and by the unions. Notes a breach of trust and integrity for both [verzoeker] and [real estate manager] . Recently took the Code of Conduct e-learning and notes these behaviours violate the Code of Conduct.”
“(…) the alcohol issue and [verzoeker] / [real estate manager] connection and culture of fear are more and more talked about, also at store level.”
3.12
Op 23 april 2018 heeft een gesprek plaatsgevonden tussen [de CEO] , [senior vice president] en [verzoeker] . Tijdens dat gesprek is nogmaals gesproken over de klachten en de gang van zaken met betrekking tot het kantoor in België. Voorts is een aantal afspraken gemaakt. In een e-mailbericht en een brief van [de CEO] aan [verzoeker] van 24 april 2018 staat het volgende:
“I hope this letter finds you well. I refer to the discussion you and I had in the Schiphol office yesterday Monday April 23 at 10.00 hours together with your manager [senior vice president] . (…)
As you know, there have been a number of discussions these past weeks in the context of the GrandVision Whistleblower Procedure that was set in motion pursuant to a number of whistleblower complaints we received about you starting March 15.
I also refer to the face-to-face discussion you and I had on March 20 and the meeting you had on April 3 with our Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel during which the contents of the whistleblower complaints were discussed at length with you.
As discussed during our April 23 meeting, we agreed the following:
-
You will not use any alcohol and you will not be under the influence of alcohol during work time or during company sponsored events;
-
You will immediately make an appointment with our company doctor in connection with your recent series of short term illnesses;
-
You will stay away until further notice from the Belgium office and we will ask [plaatsvervanger] to step in on an interim basis. Regular monthly meetings will take place between yourself, [plaatsvervanger] and [senior vice president] to ensure you stay aligned on the actions and next steps;
Subject to you complying with these agreed terms, we are concluding the Whistleblower Procedure. I refer to your Manager [senior vice president] for any further questions or instructions.”
3.15
Op 30 april 2018 heeft [verzoeker] zich ziek gemeld. Hij heeft zich sindsdien niet meer beter gemeld. Op dezelfde datum heeft hij in een e-mail aan [senior vice president] laten weten dat hij niet had begrepen dat hij niet meer op het kantoor in België mocht verschijnen. Dit e-mailbericht luidt als volgt:
“Dear [senior vice president] ,
Referring to your e-mail:
- it was not my understanding that I had to stop my operational work immediately and stay away from the Belgian office until the planned handover to [plaatsvervanger] on Monday April 30th. During almost the whole whistleblowing procedure I did my job in Belgium at my best. I had mot any intention or motiv to disregard any instruction, and as you know I have never done.
- I was not aware that the confirmation of our meeting with [y] was send to me at my private e-mail account. I have seen his mail last Thursday before our meeting.
- I have signed and returned the letter I received from [y]
- you told me to send details of [z] company doctor in order to make an appointment. Sofar I didn’t receive.
(…)”
3.16
Op 3 mei 2018 heeft [senior vice president] aan [verzoeker] bericht dat GrandVision streeft naar een beëindiging van de arbeidsrelatie met [verzoeker] . Een brief en een e-mailbericht van die datum luiden als volgt:
“I refer to the discussion you and I had, together with our General Counsel, in the Schiphol office on Thursday April 26 at 14.00 hours. During this meeting we discussed the clear instructions you received during our preceding meeting in the Schiphol office on Monday 23 at 10.00 hours together with our CEO.
We repeated the instructions in an e-mail and certified letter which we sent to you on Thursday April 24.
The instructions were the following:
(…)
You agreed with these instructions during our April 23 meeting. Therefore, we were very surprised and disappointed when you visited the Belgian office anyway on April 25, violating your employer’s instructions and putting the company at risk bij representing GrandVision during an important Belgian works council meeting that day without proper authorization. You also did not make an appointment with the company doctor immediately after our April 23 meeting, as we agreed.
During our April 26 meeting you claimed the April 23 instructions were not clear and you had not received the letter or e-mail. However, the instructions were formulated crystal clear during our April 23 meeting and you agreed with them during that meeting. In addition, the instruction not to go to Belgium had already been given to you by our CFO and Chief Compliance Officer during your April 3 meeting and agreed by you during that meeting and confirmed to your e-mail account.
(…)
During your face-to-face meeting with our CEO on March 20 and your meeting on April 3 with our Chief Compliance Officer and General Counsel the contents of the whistleblower complaints were discussed at length with you. During the April 3 meeting you were instructed you would not visit the Belgian office and you agreed with this during that meeting. You violated this instruction by visiting the Belgian office anyway on April 10 and on April 20.
(…)
In light of all that has happened, we want to terminate your employment agreement (ontbinding arbeidsovereenkomst) with Brilmij Groep BV. In view of your role as Benelux [functienaam] and leader of an important part of our business we can no longer continue your employment.
(…)”
3.21
Bij e-mailbericht van 30 maart 2018 heeft [director customer experience & digital benelux] , Director Customer Experience & Digital Benelux, het volgende laten weten aan [verzoeker] :
“(…) Zoals gezegd ga ik GrandVision per 1 juli verlaten en deze zomer beginnen aan een nieuwe uitdaging.
Ik heb vele jaren met heel veel plezier en inzet in verschillende functies mogen bijdragen aan de groei van dit prachtige bedrijf. Daar ben ik heel dankbaar voor.
Jij hebt de afgelopen 22 maanden mijn passie voor retail enorm doen laten groeien. Ik heb veel geleerd van jouw kennis & kunde over retail bedrijven. De laatste maanden was je een grote steun bij het opzetten van de nieuwe Category Management afdeling en dat waardeer ik enorm.
De komende periode zal ik me nog voor de volle 100% inzetten om de GVBLX Customer First Strategy verder succesvol te realiseren. (…)”
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