Leaving a Job and the Final Settlement
The termination of an employment relationship is always completed by a final settlement: the employer is obliged to settle accounts with the employee no later than 7 calendar days from the termination of the relationship, unless the employment contract or the law provides otherwise. Where the employee leaves of their own will, they abandon the position on the basis of a written statement, and this formality is decisive: an oral agreement protects neither party later.
Grounds for Termination of the Employment Contract
The law defines an exhaustive list of grounds for termination of an employment contract, including: economic, technological or organisational changes that make a reduction of the workforce necessary; the expiry of the term of the contract; the completion of the work provided for by the contract; the employee leaving the position of their own will on the basis of a written statement; a written agreement of the parties; the non-conformity of qualifications or professional skills with the position or work performed; a gross breach of obligations; a breach of obligations where a measure of disciplinary liability has already been applied during the last 1 year; prolonged incapacity for work, where its duration exceeds 40 consecutive calendar days or the total duration within 6 months exceeds 60 calendar days; the entry into legal force of a court judgment excluding the possibility of performing the work; the death of a party or the commencement of liquidation proceedings of the employer as a legal person; and any other objective circumstance justifying termination. Termination on any other ground is impermissible, and termination on grounds of discrimination is excluded altogether. The law also prohibits termination during the protected period following the notification of pregnancy, during military or alternative labour service, and during service as a lay judge — except under the exceptional grounds defined by law, such as the expiry of the contract term or agreement of the parties.
The Written Notice Procedure and Its Time Limits
Where the employer terminates the contract on the grounds of workforce reduction, non-conformity of qualifications, prolonged incapacity for work or another objective circumstance, it must warn the employee at least 30 calendar days in advance by sending a prior written notice, and in that case the employee receives compensation of not less than 1 month's remuneration. On the same grounds the employer is entitled to warn the employee only 3 calendar days in advance, but then the compensation must be not less than 2 months' remuneration. Where the employee leaves of their own will, they must warn the employer at least 30 calendar days in advance by a prior written notice. When termination rests on the ground of another objective circumstance, the employer is obliged to substantiate that circumstance directly in the written notice.