The High Court of Justice of Navarra (TSJN) has upheld the disciplinary dismissal of an employee of a food company in the Comarca de Pamplona after proving a serious error in the mixture of preservatives that compromised product safety and caused economic losses. The ruling, dated February 5, 2026, rejects the employee's appeal and ratifies the previous decision of the Social Court number 2 of Pamplona.
The worker maintained that it was an unintentional oversight and that it did not reach sufficient gravity to justify his dismissal. However, the court concludes that there was a serious and culpable breach of his duties.
A production failure that set off alarms
The origin of the case is situated in April 2024, when one of the company's clients alerted of anomalies in several batches, which presented an abnormal color in the product. As a result of that communication, the company initiated an internal analysis that detected an error in the composition: the product did not contain the correct preservative.
Subsequent checks also revealed a discrepancy in the raw materials warehouse, with the disappearance of sodium sulfite — a different substance considered an allergen — which pointed to its improper use during the mixing process. The situation forced the withdrawal of products from the market, the suspension of production, and the communication of the incident to the health authorities.
The court points out a clear breach of protocols
The dismissed employee was responsible for weighing and mixing that day. According to the ruling, he had sufficient training and previous experience, in addition to having received specific instruction weeks before.
The process, the court underlines, included a control system based on barcode scanning, designed precisely to avoid errors. However, that protocol was not followed.
The ruling highlights that the error could only have occurred if the automated system was bypassed and data was entered manually, which shows a clear disregard for internal rules. “Had the procedure been followed, the system would not have allowed the mixture to proceed,” the ruling states.
Health risk and economic losses
The impact of the error went beyond the technical failure. The company had to face customer claims, product recall, and sales losses, factors that the court considers decisive in assessing the seriousness of the conduct.
In this regard, the Court recalls that to justify a disciplinary dismissal it is not necessary to prove intent, but the existence of a serious breach. And in this case, it concludes that the facts are “blatant” and with sufficiently relevant consequences to justify the measure.
The TSJ rejects the worker's appeal
With these arguments, the Superior Court of Justice of Navarra dismisses the employee's appeal and confirms that he violated essential protocols linked to food safety.
The resolution thus reinforces the criterion that, in sensitive sectors such as the food industry, errors in critical processes can have severe labor consequences, even when the worker claims it was a one-time oversight.