WILLEMSTAD – A Curaçao security employee who resigned through WhatsApp following a dispute over unpaid wages cannot return to her job, after the Joint Court of Justice ruled that her messages could reasonably be regarded by her employer as a valid resignation.
The case involved a woman employed by Overval Preventie Team (OPT), a security company operating in Curaçao. The dispute eventually reached the Joint Court after the employee challenged an earlier decision of the Court of First Instance.
The employment dispute dates back to late 2023, when the woman stopped working because she had not received her salary. During the conflict, she sent angry WhatsApp messages to the owner of the security company indicating that she no longer wanted to continue working there.
Approximately two weeks later, the employer contacted her and asked whether she wanted to return to work. According to the case, she again indicated through WhatsApp that she definitively did not want to continue.
The woman subsequently went to court and challenged the termination of her employment relationship, seeking continued payment of wages and a return to her job.
The Joint Court, however, concluded that the employer was entitled to interpret the WhatsApp communication as a resignation by the employee. An important factor was that there had been approximately two weeks between the initial emotional messages and the later confirmation that she did not want to return.
The Court concluded that the employment agreement had therefore ended as a result of the employee’s own resignation.
Her claims for reinstatement and continued salary payments were rejected.
The ruling highlights the potential legal consequences of statements made through messaging services such as WhatsApp in employment disputes, particularly when an employee clearly communicates an intention to end the working relationship and later confirms that decision.