CONSTITUTIONAL COURT RULING ON WHATSAPP DISMISSAL CASE

After the well-known case of labor cassation – Judiciary called “dismissal for using the cell phone during working hours”, a new one arises, but from the Constitutional Court that has been popularly baptized as the “dismissal via WhatsApp” case, which should be understood in a simple and clear way by our readers.

First of all, not always the media headlines are related to the content of the resolution or sentence. In that sense, after having read Plenary Ruling 320/2023, EXP. No. 00878-2022-PA/TC HUAURA CARLOS ALBERTO RIVERA BAZALAR, of 23 pages, we can point out three important points:

1. The present case stems from a relationship with a public entity. And we learn that labor issues, depending on the circumstances of the specific case, can be seen through constitutional channels in the name of urgent access to the defense of labor rights by the state. In this case, the COVID context is relevant.
2. Labor issues are approached from the approach of human dignity, therefore, for the Constitutional Court, the fact of communicating to the worker his dismissal via WhatsApp in the COVID context, affected his human dignity. Taking into account that the work relationship that existed between both parties was qualified as of a labor nature in light of the evidentiary means interpreted by the Constitutional Court.
3. In the opinion of the Constitutional Court, its decision to rule in favor of the worker does not affect the criteria established in the Huatuco Precedent, because they consider that the dismissal that occurred in this case was a null dismissal and not an arbitrary dismissal.