Tribunal rules Zurich university unfairly dismissed professor
Iris Ritzmann greets the verdict outside the court building.
Keystone / Walter Bieri
A Swiss court has ruled that the University of Zurich was wrong in sacking a professor in connection with a breach of sensitive data. The breach resulted in a prominent politician losing his position, followed by the resignation of the university’s rector.
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Iris Ritzmann has been awarded compensation of CHF15,000 ($15,100) by a Zurich court, which found that the university had relied on inadmissible evidence to sack the professor in 2013.
Ritzmann was accused of leaking sensitive data to the media, some of it relating to rightwing People’s Party politician Christoph Mörgeli who was the head of the university’s Medical History Museum at the time. The data detailed internal misgivings about Mörgeli’s performance, which saw him sacked in 2012External link.
The following year, Ritzmann was also fired – a decision that sparked a protest among colleagues. This prompted the university’s rector to resign saying he took “ultimate responsibility” for the data breach scandal.
Ritzmann was also arrested on the criminal charge of breaching data security laws. But she was acquitted when a court ruled that prosecutors had illegally obtained crucial evidence against her.
On Thursday, a Zurich court found that the university had used the same evidence to sack the professor and declared the dismissal unfair. The university told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA that it was considering the option to appeal the verdict.
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