Calling your boss a d--k is not a fireable offence, so long as you only say it once, a court in Madrid has ruled. According to the publications including the Telegraph (paywall),Metro and Publico, the court in Madrid said that an employee of a smoked fish company should not have been fired for calling his manager a "gilipollas", a common Spanish insult that loosely translates to "'stupid d--k" or "moron". For the court, the decisive factor was that the insult was ‘isolated’ and therefore his bad behaviour was ‘not sufficiently serious’ to merit a dismissal. Only the repeated use of offensive language would demonstrate that ‘a serious and culpable breach’ of labour rules had occurred.

The exchange came about when the employee was informed by his manager he would be punished if he did not attend a meeting scheduled at 2.55 pm, five minutes before the end of his shift.

The magistrates consider that the context in which the events occur, the concurrent objective and subjective circumstances, must be assessed. In this case, the worker was required "to be present at the company's facilities when he had already finished his workday and was in a hurry for personal reasons," the ruling indicates.

The employee was warned that if he left, he could be sanctioned for disobedience, since he had already enjoyed a 15-minute break. The worker responded, “Let's see if you dare, you d--k" And he left slamming the door.

The Madrid high court ruled in the worker's favour, ordering the company to reinstate him or provide €23,541 in back pay.