In the case before the State Labour Court of Berlin-Brandenburg, an employee of one company was in negotiations about concluding an employment contract with another company, which was a competing company to his current employer. During the time of the negotiations, the employee sent more than 200 emails with internal data relating to his current employer from his business email account to his private email account. His employer became aware of this and terminated the employment for good cause with immediate effect. Two months later, the employee started working for the competing company.
The State Labour Court ruled that the termination was justified. Due to the ongoing negotiations with the competing company, the Court found that the employee forwarded the internal company data to his private email account to prepare for his work at the new employer and to be able to use the internal data of his previous employer in the new employment relationship. The employee was not permitted to transfer internal company data to his private email account and this was also not necessary, as the company had provided him with a laptop for business purposes. Based on these facts, the Court found that the employee severely violated his contractual duties, as his behaviour was aimed at impairing the business interests of his employer. The Court also considered that the potential damage for the employer was significant. Due to this, the Court deemed the extraordinary termination to be valid.