Termination of an employment contract by the employee

In what form and when to terminate the employment contract as an employee?

 

TERMINATION OF AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT BY THE EMPLOYEE

The high number of cases in which we are asked by employees about legal aspects of ending their employment relationship and ways they can initiate such a termination clearly shows how over-complicated Polish labor law is.

The first important thing when thinking about termination of an employment contract should be determining, whether it is based on the Labor Code or the Civil Code (including B2B). This information is usually included in the wording of the particular document. It is also important, because in the former case it is the provisions of the Code that determine our further actions. On the other hand, if our employment is based on the Civil Code, we should examine closely the provisions of the contract itself, because in most cases they overrule the general guidelines provided for by the law. They also can vary greatly between one employer and another, including a wide array of notice periods, requirements for justification or lack thereof, different requirements as to the form (e.g. wet-signature hard copy or e-mail) etc.

Having this variety in mind, in this article we will only focus on Labor Code employment, because its rules are the same for most of the employees in Poland.

 

TERMINATING AN EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT WITH NOTICE

The basic method of terminating an employment relationship by the employee provided in the Labor Code is a notice of termination.

Such notice should be made in writing (wet-signature hard copy), but doesn’t have to specify the reasons or any kind of justification. Only employers have to explain in writing the motives for their decision to end the cooperation.

The employer doesn’t have the right to oppose a notice of termination – neither internally, nor before the Court. As a consequence, the employment relationship always ends after the notice period, which may be up to three months long, depending on years of service.

It is worth considering that the notice period under the Labor Code always expires on Saturday (if it is shorter than one month) or on the last day of a calendar month. Therefore, its real length may extend to nearly four months. You should always consider this factor when agreeing on a start date with your new employer.

 

TERMINATION OF THE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT BY MUTUAL CONSENT OF THE PARTIES

Sometimes a new employer would like you to start earlier than after expiration of the notice period with your current company. In such case, you should negotiate with your boss about the termination by mutual consent of the parties. From our practice it seems that this way is even more common than the termination notice. Its description is quite self-explanatory, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that it requires that both parties agree on a particular date and exact terms of termination.

 

MUTUAL CONSENT OF THE PARTIES DURING THE NOTICE PERIOD

Sometimes, the employer makes additional requests before letting you go earlier, than it would normally result from a notice period. Those can include summing up your projects, tying some loose ends or handling over matters to your successor. In such a case it seems like a good idea to hand over your termination notice in order to safeguard at least the statutory date of your departure from the company, but still communicate clearly that you would like to sign a mutual consent terminating the relationship earlier. This way you don’t allow your current company to potentially ruin your new employment opportunity by pushing the termination date further and further away by multiplying “final” requests.

Termination by mutual consent of the parties is always possible in Polish labor law, even during the notice period.

INSTANT TERMINATION OF AN EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP BY THE EMPLOYEE

The Labor Code also specifies exceptional situations when an employee can instantly terminate the employment relationship. Such action is possible if regardless of a doctor’s order stating harmful effect of a particular job on the health of an employee, the company doesn’t transfer him or her to another position by the date specified by the physician. The termination should as always be made in writing (wet-signature hard copy), but this time also stating the reasons for the employee’s action.

 

“REVERSE DISCIPLINARY TERMINATION”

Another possibility of instantaneously ending the employment relationship by the employee arises if the company grossly violates its basic duties as an employer. It is a mirror reflection of the right of the employer to fire the employee for disciplinary reasons, so it is colloquially nicknamed “reverse disciplinary termination”. Also this decision has to be communicated in writing (wet-signature hard copy) and include an explanation of the reasons for the employee’s action.

The most common situation enabling the employees to resign this way is lack of payment (Supreme Court Ruling of April 4^th, 2000, I PKN 516/99 and many subsequent rulings), but it is also justified in case of harassment (Supreme Court Ruling of April 22^nd, 2015, II PK 157/14).

The decision to choose “reverse disciplinary termination” should be made after careful deliberation. That’s because it is the only case in which the employer may contest the employee’s decision to terminate the employment relationship before the Labor Court. The company may claim damages amounting up to three month’s remuneration from the person who decided to resign using this exceptional procedure, while lacking proper grounds to do so.

 

 

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