Termination of an employment contract for an indefinite period

Receiving a notice is not a pleasant experience, and often associated with huge emotions. The first thing to remember is that we have time to think about what to do next. We have exactly 21 days from receiving the notice It is worth noting the date on which the notice of termination is to note the date on which the notice was received to precisely determine until when we have time to react.

Justification for termination of an employment contract for an indefinite period

Termination of the contract for an indefinite period should be made in writing and contain a justification of the reasons for terminating the contract.

"Omitting the reasons for terminating the contract or the complete lack of justification constitutes a violation of the provisions of the Labor Code. It severely limits the employer's ability to invoke this cause in the course of a possible trial in court."

Possible demands of the employee, reinstatement to work, compensation

If the termination of the employment contract for an indefinite period violates the provisions of the Labor Code or was unjustified, the Employee may refer the case to court against the Employer and demand:

1. finding the ineffectiveness of the termination, i.e. determining that the termination did not have any effects – as a consequence, the employee returns to work,
2. Compensation.

Ineffectiveness of termination of the employment contract for an indefinite period – reinstatement to work

When we request that the termination be declared ineffective and the Court agrees with us, it may terminate the case in the following ways:

• If the employee is still working (the notice period has not expired), the court determines that the notice does not have any effect and the employee continues to work, and for the entire period he is entitled to remuneration, as if he had never received a notice.
• If the employee no longer works, the Court orders the employer to return the employee to work and additionally for the period from the end of the contract to the restoration grants him remuneration, however, not more than for 2 months, and when the notice period was 3 months – no more than for 1 month.
• If, for some reason, reinstatement is impossible, the Court shall instead award damages.

Compensation for unjustified or unlawful termination of an employment contract of indefinite duration

If, for some reason, the employee cannot be reinstated to work or the employee has only demanded compensation from the beginning, the Court, recognizing the employee's argument, awards him compensation. The amount of compensation is the equivalent of remuneration for a period of 2 weeks to 3 months, but not lower than the remuneration for the notice period.

If you have any doubts whether the notice violates the provisions of labor law, it is worth using the advice of a lawyer.

You can ask the author of the article for help here.

When can I challenge the termination of an employment contract of indefinite duration?

Unlawful termination of an employment contract of indefinite duration

These are situations when the employer violates the law when terminating an employment contract for an indefinite period.

The termination of an employment contract for an indefinite period may itself be formulated in a way that violates the provisions of, inter alia, by:

• lack of justification in terminating the employment contract,
• no reason for terminating the employment contract – failure to provide in the termination or giving a non-existent, untrue reason,
• failure to observe the written form of termination of the employment contract,
• lack of consultation with trade unions,
• termination of the contract to a protected person, e.g. a pregnant woman, a person who has reached pre-retirement age,
• termination of the employment contract of a person on sick leave,
• termination of the employment contract of an employee on leave,
• Other.

Unjustified termination of an employment contract for an indefinite period

In order to be able to terminate an employee's employment contract for an indefinite period, the employer must have a reason. The regulations do not give a closed list of reasons on the basis of, you can dismiss an employee. Instead, they require that the plaintiff be relevant and actually exist.

Examples of reasons indicated by previous judgments are:

• loss of trust,
• medical contraindications,
• conducting competitive activity,
• refusal to sign a non-competition agreement,
• crossing the boundaries of criticism,
• violation of employee duties,
• refusal to execute the command,
• lack of skills,
• improper performance of duties,

Whether in a given case the reason is significant and whether it really exists is very often difficult to determine. Often, the employee and the employer have different opinions about this. Assessing this requires looking at the whole circumstances of the termination and the employee-employer relationship.

In case of doubt, it is worth using the advice of a lawyer who will help assess whether and what are the chances that the Court will agree with us in a dispute about whether the termination of the employment contract for an indefinite period was justified or not.

You can ask the author of the article for help here.