Employment contract termination in Russia

There is a general dismissal procedure. Its algorithm is quite simple, and it is prescribed in article 84.1 of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation.

• The employer prepares the order to terminate the employee’s employment contract.
• The employee must read this order and sign it. Also, the employee has the right to ask for a signed copy of this order.
• According to the general rules, the day of termination of the employment contract is always the last day of the employee’s work, except for cases when the employee did not actually work, but he retained his place of work.

On the day of the employment contract’s termination, the employer must:

• make a work record in the employee’s work book (if the employee is not at work on the day of dismissal, he is notified that he can pick up the work record or he should agree to be sent it by mail);
• make a final payment in accordance with article 140 of the Labour Code;
• make copies of work-related documents upon the employee’s written request.

Record in the employment book about the reason for termination of the employment contract is made in full accordance with the wording of the Labour Code or other Federal law, with reference to the relevant article, part of the article, paragraph of the article.

The establishment of a probationary period for employment is regulated by article 70 of the Labour Code. It also provides a list of employees who do not have a probationary period.

The probation period may not exceed three months, and for heads of organizations and their deputies, chief accountants and their deputies, heads of branches, representative offices, or other separate structural divisions of organizations — six months, unless otherwise established by Federal law. During the probation period, personnel officers must record any deviations in a new employee’s work using memos and acts. When the test period ends, and the employer evaluates the results of the newcomer unsatisfactorily, they must document the validity of their decision.

The employer can terminate the employment agreement before the end of the test period if the result is unsatisfactory. In this case, you are supposed to notify the employee in written form not later than three days in advance, giving the reasons for making such a decision. However, the employee can appeal this decision in court.

If the employee refuses to sign the notification, a corresponding report is drawn up, which records the fact that the employee read the notification and refused to sign it. Based on the notification, an order to terminate the employment contract can be issued.

The employee is able to terminate the employment contract at their own request, but they must notify the employer in a written form not later than two weeks in advance unless a different period is established by the Labour Code or other Federal law. The specified period begins on the day after the employer receives the employee’s application for dismissal. By the parties' agreement, this period may be reduced.

The word "agreement" indicates a peaceful basis for termination of the employment relationship.

A fixed-term employment contract is concluded according to article 59 of the Labour Code. Most often, it is done to perform the duties of an absent employee, who retains the place of work.
This employment contract usually specifies the end date. Three days before this date, the employer must notify the employee about the period’s expiration using a notification.

In this case, the employer needs to adhere to a certain algorithm of action because the main task is to minimize the cases of employees' appeals to the court. The process begins with the employer’s decision to reduce staff. An order is issued to change the staffing table and remove staff units from it.

Next, an order is issued to create a Commission. It usually includes representatives of the administration, representatives of a public organization, a lawyer, a personnel officer, an accountant, and heads of those structural divisions where reductions will be made. Then a period is set during which the Commission reviews employees to establish a list of those who will fall under the reduction. For this purpose, a file is prepared for each employee with a list of all professional achievements, marital status, etc. First of all, employees who are not subject to dismissal due to redundancy are removed from the list:

• pregnant woman;
• a woman who has a child under three years of age;
• single mother raising a child under the age of 14 (a disabled child under the age of 18);
• a father (trustee) who is raising a child under the age of 14 (a disabled child under the age of 18) without a mother;
• a parent (representative) who is the sole earner of a disabled child under the age of 18;
• a parent (representative) who is the sole earner of a child under three years of age in a family with three or more young children, if the other parent (representative) does not work under an employment contract.

After exclusion from the list of those protected from reduction by law, the remaining employees are considered. The main criterion that protects against dismissal is professionalism.
Finally, a list of employees who are subject to dismissal is issued. After that, the information is sent to the employment service.

At the same time, each employee is given a personal and signed notification informing about the decision to reduce the position or the number of staff units. It is reported that after two months from the date of receipt of this notification, the person will be dismissed.

It also refers to the guarantees that are provided in connection with this reason for dismissal.

If a misdemeanor is proven, a disciplinary penalty is applied. If the violation is not very serious, the employee is first reprimanded. If it is very serious and has unpleasant consequences for the company, the employee can be dismissed. At the same time, the order on the application of a disciplinary penalty must contain references to all documents that confirm the grounds for applying the penalty.

The legislation does not provide precise tools for registration of such dismissals. Problems often arise because the employer does not know how to treat a person’s prolonged absence from work if there is no information about the reasons for this absence. At the same time, the employee has no right to dismiss the employee before the fact of violation of labour legislation is established. Registration of such a situation begins with drawing up an act for each working day that a person is absent from work for an unknown reason.

Reports on the absence of an employee should first be drawn up daily, and if he is absent for a long time, they should be drawn up on the day when the timesheet is submitted.

Letters should also be sent to the employee with a request to explain the reasons for non-appearance (they must be sent by registered mail with an inventory of the attachment).
If more than a year there is no word from the missing employee, the employer, in accordance with article 42 of the Civil Code, can ask the court to recognize the employee to be missing.