“See you in court. 7 scenarios of conflict dismissals with the evaluation of the employer’s risks”

The book “See you in court. 7 scenarios of conflict dismissals with the evaluation of the employer’s risks” was published under the auspices of the “Labour Disputes” magazine (“Aktion-Media” Publishing Group). The co-authors of the book consider the following cases of termination of employment relations:

• On the employee’s initiative;
• Upon agreement between the parties;
• For the reason of unsatisfactory results of the trial period;
• For the reason of expiry of the employment contract;
• Downsizing;
• For truancy;
• For coming to work under the influence of alcohol.

Advocate Аnna Kotova-Smolenskaya, Doctor at Law, Associated Partner of the Law Firm "YUST"; Tatiana Samarina, Doctor at Law, Senior Lawyer of the Firm; Vladimir Starovoytov, Lawyer of the Firm, were the co-authors of the chapter “Dismissal of the employee for the reason of expiry of the employment contract”.

Execution of a terminal employment contract is beneficial for the employer as it lets him know exactly, when he is able to dismiss the employee. However, when the moment of termination of the employment contract arrives, the employee may attempt to contest the execution of employment relations for a fixed period. The employee may claim the illegality of the very fact of execution of the terminal employment contract as well as procedural violations during the dismissal. But even if errors were made at the termination, not all of them automatically lead to the restoration of the employee to his workplace.

The employees tend to resort to the following arguments, when contesting their dismissal:

• The employer had no legal motives to execute a terminal employment contract;
• The employment contract contained no indications of the bases for the execution of a terminal employment contract;
• The fact of prolongation of the employment contract proves that the contract was transformed into an indefinite-term contract;
• The employer has violated the procedure of dismissal by not notifying the employee in advance of the termination of the terminal employment contract for the reason of its expiry;
• The employee was on parental leave, and thus was immune to dismissal.

The authors have given a concrete example to show the risks borne by the employer, if a commits a mistake, and to demonstrate the possibilities to minimize the damage.

The book is available to the subscribers of the Labour Disputes (appendix to the November issue of the magazine).