BBC News, Lima
Peru's highest court has ruled that employees cannot be fired for turning up to work drunk.
The Peruvian government has criticised the constitutional tribunal's ruling as setting a dangerous legal precedent.
According to the judgement, sacking a worker because he is drunk is disproportionate and unreasonable.
The court said a caretaker employed by a local authority in a suburb of Lima should be reinstated after being sacked for turning up to work drunk.
According to the seven judges who make up Peru's highest judicial authority, the sacking of Pablo Cayo was excessive because he had not been violent or rude and had carried out his work as usual.
The judgment, although non-binding, has prompted debate amongst lawyers and dismay for the government.
Peru's Labour Minister, Jorge Villasante, criticised the ruling saying it could set a bad example for other workers while some lawyers have pointed out it goes against a Peruvian law prohibiting drunkenness in the workplace.
But one of the judges in the case, Fernando Calle, said the court would not revise its decision and that the caretaker, who was sacked almost five years ago, had the right to due process.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7832388.stm
3 comments:
I'm not even sure how to comment on this. Though I am wondering if the judges themselves happened to be prodigious drinkers, and perhaps a little smashed when they made this ruling...
Hehe...Peru here I come!
lol!
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