Calling your boss a d--k is not a sackable offence – so long as you only do it once, a court has ruled.

The court in Madrid said that an employee of a smoked fish company should not have been fired for calling his manager a “gilipollas”, a common Spanish insult that loosely translates to “stupid d--k” or “moron”.

For the court, the decisive factor was that the insult was “isolated” and therefore his bad behaviour was “not sufficiently serious” to merit a dismissal.

Only the repeated use of offensive language would demonstrate that “a serious and culpable breach” of labour rules had occurred.

‘Fire me if you dare’

The frank exchange came about when the employee was informed by his manager that there was a meeting he must attend at 2.55pm, five minutes before the end of his shift.

The employee said that he would not be attending and made it clear that he intended to leave the office.

When his manager warned him that he would be punished for doing so, the employee retorted before slamming the door: “Let’s see if you dare, you d--k!”

The employee, who had been sanctioned by the company on previous occasions, received a letter of dismissal, against which he launched legal proceedings.

The Madrid high court ruled in the worker’s favour, ordering the company to reinstate him or cough up €23,500 (£20,000) in back pay. The ruling earlier this week is from the company’s failed appeal against that decision.

“Although the employee’s reply and behaviour when addressing the manager were unseemly and rude, slamming the door behind him, they were not sufficiently serious or blameworthy to justify his dismissal,” the court said in its ruling.

It had also taken into account that the man had finished his day’s work and was in a hurry to leave the office for personal reasons.