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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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Swearing at Your Boss Can't Get You Fired in Spain

Judge says 'son of a bitch' insult no big deal

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(AP) – A Barcelona court says calling your boss a "son of a bitch" is not grounds for dismissal, insisting the slight is common in arguments in Spain and not that big a deal. The plaintiff in the case was fired in January 2008 for hurling that insult at his boss during a money dispute, then calling him "crazy" as he stormed out of the office. "Without a doubt, both expressions are insulting," the judge said, but not grounds for dismissal.

The man lost a first court challenge, but won on appeal with the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia in February. The ruling states that the worker should either be reinstated, or receive $9,472 in compensation. It's unknown which option the employer picked.

It's OK to mouth off to your boss in Spain.
It's OK to mouth off to your boss in Spain.   (Shutterstock)
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The social degradation of language has caused the expressions used by the plaintiff to become commonly used in certain settings, especially in arguments. - Judge Sara Maria Pose Vidal

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14 comments
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Jes
Sep 16, 09 10:42 AM CDT
So you essentially can't be fired for disrespect. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Reply
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-2
IN RESPONSE:
Doctor_Zaius
Sep 16, 09 11:08 AM CDT
In spain....
Vote up! Vote down!
+1
IN RESPONSE:
Timinator2K
Sep 16, 09 12:36 PM CDT
The disrespect thing has always been top-down privilege to rip your subordinates however you wanted. I once had an insane screamer as a boss but, I must have somehow communicated to him that I'd take his freakin' head off if he ever behaved that way toward me. We teach people how we want to be treated.
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+4
IN RESPONSE:
schmidtkoff
Sep 16, 09 12:52 PM CDT
@tim - again i give you a thumbs up. "we teach people how we want to be treated" is right on.
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0
LibertyMan
Sep 16, 09 11:33 AM CDT
The court clearly ignored long understood and generally accepted workplace violence/conflict management principles easily recognized in this former employees aggressive and escalating behavior and which call for zero tolerence. Not only should he have been fired but Security should have been called to escort the guy out of the office. If the court really cared about the plaintiff, they should have ordered him into anger management classes, something that Dr. Z should seriously consider given his documented history of uncontrolled outbursts. Reply
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-3

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