News & Insights

Nestle’s CEO, Laurent Freixe, dismissed due to undisclosed relationship with junior colleague

Laurent Freixie, Nestle’s CEO who had been with the company for almost 40 years, has been dismissed for an undisclosed relationship with a junior colleague. The relationship allegedly first came to light after a concern was raised on the company’s whistleblowing channel. While the company initially found the claims to be untrue, repeated complaints prompted a full investigation which confirmed that there was indeed an undisclosed relationship.

His dismissal follows a series of recent high profile executive exits for non-disclosure of relationships, most notably the Astronomer CEO earlier this summer, and a former executive at BP in 2023 who was similarly dismissed without notice.

Our partner Hina Belitz comments, ‘We have seen in case law that workplace relationships can lead to claims such as sexual harassment, particularly where the relationship goes sour. It’s important for employers to implement policies and procedures for workplace relationships, especially where there may be a conflict of interest.’

‘This also poses a lesson for senior executives,’ she notes. ‘Often, highly-paid senior executives leave the business on an exit package, but companies are more than willing to have them leave with nothing where a misconduct takes place.’