**A McDonald’s outlet in the Netherlands was wrong to sack an employee for giving a colleague a piece of cheese on a hamburger, a court has ruled.**The worker lost her job at a branch of the fast-food chain in the northern town of Lemmer in March last year.
A written warning would have been more appropriate, the district court in Leeuwarden ruled.
McDonald’s was ordered to pay her more than 4,200 euros ($5,900; £3,660) for the last five months of her contract.
The worker was fired after she sold a hamburger to a colleague who then asked for cheese, which she added to the meal.
“It is just a slice of cheese”
Leeuwarden district court
McDonald’s profits jump by 23%
The fast-food chain argued that this turned the hamburger into a cheeseburger, and so the employee should have charged more.
McDonald’s said she had broken staff rules prohibiting free gifts to family, friends or colleagues.
But the court said in its written judgement: “The dismissal was too severe a measure. It is just a slice of cheese,” reports AFP news agency.
The ruling comes days after McDonald’s reported an increase in net profits by almost a quarter in the last three months of 2009.