Nets successful in appeal proceedings against former Nets employee about sell back of employee shares

On 6 September 2016, a former Nets employee instituted proceedings against Nets, claiming that a settlement agreement concluded in connection with the employee's dismissal in November 2015 should be set aside. The settlement agreement was concluded "in full and final settlement" and included provisions on a sell back of employee shares, among other things.

Following Net's listing in September 2016, the employee was of the opinion that Nets had pretended to negotiate while being well aware of its impending listing, and that Nets in reality had a higher value than the valuation at which the employee shares were bought back. As a consequence, the employee claimed that the settlement agreement should be set aside as unfair and that the employee was to be placed in the same position as if she had never been dismissed. 

However, the Eastern High Court did not find any circumstances that would justify giving judgment in favour of the Nets employee's claim that the agreement was unfair. The Eastern High Court pointed out that at the time of the dismissal, Nets was not facing an impending listing nor was Nets involved in a sales process, apart from the process in which an undertaking owned by a private equity fund will always be. 

Accordingly, the settlement agreement could not be set aside as unfair or as contrary to fair conduct, and the Danish Eastern High Court therefore upheld the City Court's judgment and found in favour of Nets.

The unanimous decision was delivered by three judges in both the City Court and the Eastern High Court. 

Plesner's core team consisted of Christian Th. Kjølbye, Anne-Sophie Bundesen and Nicoline Huitfeldt Sander.