Below we provide an overview of the case law from the area of labor law from the recent period, which sheds new light on issues often met in practice, and as such is relevant for employers and employees alike.
The case law in question relates to redundancy, termination of employment, employment for a limited term, and mandatory contents of the decision on termination of employment.
Redundancy – an obligation to adopt the Redundancy Plan:
When deciding whether the employer must adopt a Redundancy Plan (which depends on the number of employees affected by redundancy) employees who previously opted for voluntary termination of employment (typically based on employer’s initiative) are not taken into consideration. Even though voluntary termination of employment (based on an agreement on termination of employment) is based on the same economic and/or technological reasons that led to redundancy, voluntary termination is not perceived as part of the redundancy procedure and the employees in question are not calculated in the total number of redundant employees.
(Decision by the Supreme Court of Cassation Rev 2 1797/2022 from 13.4.2023)
Redundancy – application of criteria for redundancy:
In the case of redundancy in the form of a reduction of the number of employees at a certain work position, the employer is obliged to define, announce, and apply criteria based on which redundant employees will be determined (i.e. employees who will be laid off). The idea is to exclude arbitrariness and employer’s discretion as well as discrimination of employees.
Moreover, the employer is obliged to describe and document the process of application of such criteria in detail, which will not be the case if for instance only the average evaluation of work performance is given (as opposed to individual evaluations for specific aspects of work performance in line with the adopted criteria); or if there is no information on the period of evaluation; if the method of evaluation is not given, or if it is simply stated that the employee received the lowest grade without any additional detail.
(Decision by the Supreme Court of Cassation, Rev2 4183/2022 from 5.4.2023)
Employment for a limited term:
Employment contracts for a limited term aside from the term of employment also need to have a legal basis for such employment. Specifically, the law provides situations that call for the establishment of employment for a limited term, and accordingly, the employer must provide concrete reasons in the employment contract (engagement for a specific project, replacement of the employee etc.). It is not sufficient to stipulate in a later annex that the employee is engaged for a limited term based on specific projects if the employer cannot substantiate that this was the case.
These omissions by the employer lead to a transformation of employment for a limited term into employment for an indefinite term, which the employee is entitled to claim before a court of law.
(Decision by the Supreme Court of Cassation, Rev2 3123/2022 from 9.3.2023)
Content of the act on dismissal:
It is sufficient to state in the dismissal act that the employment contract is ended together with all its annexes, i.e., such annexes do not have to be individually mentioned for the act to be lawful in this respect.
(Decision by Supreme Court of Cassation, Rev2 4946/2022 from 2.3.2023)
This text is written for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We are at your disposal for any additional information.
