18-Cent Guy Final

So today, the 2nd round of the job termination occurred with our guy who got fired after nineteen years of service when he charged up his battery-powered scooter with power from his boss. The 2nd court decided that it was still wrong to fire the guy.

The only comment added to this mess? The court said that a warning probably should have been issued, and if he repeated....then fire the guy.

I think the company will likely stop here and just avoid saying much of anything in public. This case is now being widely mentioned and you can imagine being a part of the management structure and having this come up in conversation with clients.

What will change? I suspect that most of the top 500 companies in Germany over the next twelve months will develop a simple one-page policy on charging of vehicles on company electricity. It will be very direct. It will make the practice unacceptable. It will allow for one warning, and then likely a termination.

This will trigger folks into thinking about this entire idea of battery-powered scooters and cars...and likely smile to pass on any chance to buy one. Some companies will be pro-electrical and set up some meter to measure what is used.....and just charge a guy once or twice a year for what he used.