Mistake ends in court proceedings SBB manager falsifies certificate - dismissal without notice

An SBB employee falsifies his reference for an internal job change. This ends in dismissal without notice and a court hearing.

A long-standing SBB employee has lost his job after more than 30 years - because of a forged application. The man, who worked as a manager in route inspection, never felt accepted in his working environment and therefore wanted to move to another department. However, he made a serious mistake during his internal application in January 2022: he submitted a manipulated interim reference.

Additional areas of responsibility and overly positive wording had been added to the falsified document. When SBB noticed discrepancies and confronted the employee, he even submitted another forged reference - presumably to cover up the first forgery. But once again, the signatures did not match the original, as the "Aargauer Zeitung" reported.

SBB responded to the forgery by dismissing the employee without notice. The man defended himself against this in the Federal Administrative Court and demanded back pay and compensation. However, the court considered it proven that the employee had falsified the interim reference and dismissed the claim. The judges emphasized that the relationship of trust had been "fundamentally and definitively" destroyed by the act.

Dismissal justified according to the court

According to SBB, there had already been problems with the employee beforehand. For example, he had only partially passed the staff appraisal in 2020 and disregarded regulations. The ex-employee sees things differently and emphasizes that he was always valued and professionally competent.

However, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that the dismissal without notice was justified. In his position, the man had a special responsibility for the safety of rail passengers, which required a high degree of trust in his integrity. The ruling can still be appealed before the Federal Supreme Court.

When asked by the "Aargauer Zeitung", SBB explained that cases of falsified references are rare. However, references are consistently checked to ensure the authenticity of the documents.