Yahoo! News says a firm can’t fire a man charged with a 1.8 cent theft

A German company that fired a man for the theft of 1.8 euro cents (two U.S. cents) worth of electricity had no grounds for sacking him, a court ruled, dismissing the firm’s appeal against his reinstatement.

Network administrator Oliver Beel lost his job after charging his Segway, a two-wheeled electric vehicle, at work in May 2009. After he connected the vehicle to the firm’s power source for 1-1/2 hours, his boss asked him to remove it.

Twelve days later Beel found himself without a job.

They might have had a better chance if they had a policy specifically against charging vehicles. Then some kind of violation could have been claimed. Instead the court highlighted that employees charged cell phones and other devices without penalty.