The legislation of the Republic of Belarus determines the termination of an employment agreement with an employee if such an agreement was concluded for an indefinite period. Dismissal of their own free will in the Republic of Belarus is regulated by article 40 of the Labor Code. According to the specified legal norm, the employee has the right to refuse to perform labor duties, having previously notified the employer in writing 30 days in advance.
For employees
As already noted, subordinates who are hired on the basis of a perpetual agreement are entitled to dismissal of their own free will in the Republic of Belarus. The norm of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus does not apply to employees working on a contractual basis with a fixed validity period. Such employees will not be able to terminate their employment at any time on their own initiative, as they are bound by the terms of the contract with the employer. An employee can exercise his right to resignation not only during the direct performance of professional duties, but also while on sick leave, on vacation, or caring for a child.
Correctional work
Employees who are subject to a judicial decision on punishment in the form of correctional labor also do not have the right to dismiss at their own request. The Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus and article 38 of the Criminal Executive Code forbid convicts to refuse to perform official duties on their own initiative or with the consent of the employer until the full amount of correctional work has been completed. For this, it is necessary to obtain a written permission from the regional penitentiary body, which is usually issued by the penitentiary services after familiarizing themselves with the grounds for breaking the employment relationship. Without an explanation of the reasons, the refusal cannot be issued. In addition, a negative decision of the prison commission may be appealed in court.
Termination of employment
Dismissal of an employee of his own free will in the Republic of Belarus is a simple legal procedure, which begins with the submission of a written appeal to the employer 30 calendar days before the planned date of departure. The application can be handed personally to the head or transferred through the secretary or other official who has the appropriate authority. Usually, first deputies are vested with the right to contract and terminate employment.
Another way is to submit an application to the office or another unit, whose employees register correspondence and incoming documents. A subordinate who wants to quit on his own initiative needs to require putting a mark on the registration of the application on the second copy in the form of a signature of an official or a stamp. In addition, the possibility of sending a document by mail or fax is not excluded.
Dates of dismissal
The day of submission of the application is the day of registration of the document or its delivery personally to the head. Many people mistakenly think that the date of dismissal of their own free will in Belarus should be counted from the date of signing the application. The Labor Code provides for a whole calendar month so that during this period the manager can find a replacement for the resigning employee or distribute duties among the staff. The month period starts from the day after the application is submitted. It includes all non-working days (weekends and holidays). If the last day of the month’s working day falls on a day off, then the next working day is considered the day of dismissal.
To understand this issue in detail, we give a real example. An employee warned his boss about wanting to quit November 20, 2018. The period of monthly working starts from the next day, that is, November 21, and ends in a month - December 20, 2018. Therefore, this day is the last working day and at the same time the day of termination of the employment contract. The subordinate has every right to get a work book on hand, apply to the accounting department for a settlement allowance, and the very next day, December 21, not go to work. Such rules apply in the Republic of Belarus (RB).
Dismissing an employee of his own free will does not take longer, even if he is on vacation or on sick leave. These circumstances do not affect the month period established by the labor legislation of the Republic.
Can I not wait 30 days to quit?
If both parties to the labor agreement agree to terminate it, the dismissal can be executed on the basis of the agreement of the parties, which is prescribed in article 35 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus. This norm is duplicated by provision 37 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus, which gives the right to terminate an unlimited and urgent contract at any time by agreement of the parties. Also, the deadline for termination of employment on this basis may be agreed with management. Sometimes the bosses come forward and allow the employee not to work out the month before leaving. This possibility is also spelled out in the Labor Code, in particular in the second part of article 40.
So, if both parties have no objections to the dismissal account of their own free will, an employee in the Republic of Belarus can not wait a whole month to get a work book and a cash settlement. To do this, an employee who wants to resign, writes a statement to the head with a request to dismiss a specific date, for example, March 20, 2018. If the boss has no objections, he puts his resolution on the statement, after which it is sent to the personnel department and accounting. Until April 19, 2018, the employee must continue to carry out his professional activities, and on the day of dismissal, April 20, come for a work book.
Sometimes a shorter period of working out is prescribed in collective labor agreements. Often, the contract includes provisions on the right to quit on their own initiative workers classified as socially vulnerable (pregnant women, disabled people, minors, parents with many children, etc.). They must warn the employer no later than two weeks before the planned care, if otherwise not specified in the labor agreement.
If you change your mind about quitting: withdrawal of application
Regardless of the reasons why the employee decided to stop the dismissal process of his own free will, the Republic of Belarus provides for his right to withdraw the application and return to his official duties. However, he can take advantage of this opportunity only if, at the time of expiration of the mining period, no other employee was found at his workplace. The employee who was accepted to the place of the resigned person shall not be entitled to refuse employment. The interests of the candidate for the vacated position are protected by the third part of Article 40 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus. Dismissal of their own free will has no retroactive effect if a person is invited to the employee's place:
- directed to work by the state employment service;
- for transfer from another employer by agreement between them (the transfer is carried out within 30 days from the date of receipt of the written invitation, in the absence of other conditions of the contract);
- arrived at the enterprise at the request of the employer or in accordance with the agreement between the organization and the educational institution (graduate);
- which has the right to conclude an employment contract on the basis of the current collective agreement.
An employee who wrote a letter of resignation on his own in the Republic of Belarus will not be able to withdraw his request if another person is already invited to his position by the end of the working term. Moreover, it is important that the new employee belongs to the category of employees who cannot be denied employment in accordance with Belarusian law. Otherwise, the new potential employee is denied employment, and the former employee who has withdrawn the application for resignation of his own free will is reinstated under the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus.
At will or on demand - what is the difference?
If there are circumstances that exclude or significantly impede the ability to continue working (for example, due to health reasons, due to radioactive contamination of the territory, upon reaching retirement age, etc.), the employee has the right to apply for the termination of an unlimited or fixed-term contract. In this case, we are talking about dismissal on demand.
It is important to understand that in the presence of circumstances that impede the further performance of labor duties, you can terminate or terminate the perpetual contract. As for the contract, which has a clear validity period, it can only be terminated, but not terminated. In this context, the concepts of "at will" and "on demand" are of fundamental importance.
The reason for dismissal at the request of a fixed-term contract is a good reason. The legislation does not allow employers to obstruct in the presence of such circumstances and terminate the labor agreement at the request of an employee in Belarus. Dismissal of an employee of his own free will can be formalized without explanation, but only if it is a perpetual contract, and you can quit on demand even with a current fixed-term contract, but it is imperative to indicate an obstacle in the application. Article 41 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus considers as such:
- a serious illness of the employee himself or the immediate family member in need of constant care;
- disability of the applicant;
- non-compliance by the employer with labor legislation;
- violation of the provisions of the collective agreement.
Violation of an employment contract
First of all, this concept should be understood as various forms of default by the employer. These include:
- non-payment or delay in wages;
- ignoring the rules of industrial safety;
- non-provision of personnel with safe working conditions;
- lack of social guarantees (unpaid leave, sick leave, overtime, etc.)
Usually copies of documents confirming the existence of the grounds indicated for dismissal are attached to the application.
In addition, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Belarus includes relocation, that is, a change in permanent residence, and retirement to the list of good reasons for terminating a fixed-term contract at the request of an employee. None of the tenants has the right to prevent the dismissal of a pensioner of their own accord in the Republic of Belarus, regardless of the terms of the current employment contract.
Features of dismissal under Belarusian law
If the reason for the termination or termination of the employment contract was a violation by the employer of the norms of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus, the dismissal of a part-time employee or full-time employee at his own discretion gives the right to receive severance pay equal to the salary amount for 14 days. At the same time, during the working period, the subordinate is subject to all the norms of labor legislation. This means that until the day of dismissal, the labor agreement can be terminated not at the initiative of the employee, but at the initiative of the employer or under article. Dismissal of their own free will in the Republic of Belarus depends on the will of the employee, and dismissal under the article depends on the initiative of the employer or circumstances that are not dependent on the will of the parties.
As soon as the deadline is over, the employee is entitled to complete the performance of duties without any additional warning. On the last day, the employer settles with the dismissed employee, which is regulated by the relevant article. The voluntary dismissal in Belarus is accompanied by the issuance of an order. If the employer fails to fulfill its responsibilities for the final settlement with the former subordinate, in particular, refuses to issue a work book or does not give the corresponding orders for the severance pay, the dismissed employee has the full right to write a complaint to the labor inspectorate or prosecutor.
All due payments must be made on the day of dismissal. If the employee had this day off, payments are made by the accounting department no later than the next day after the stated calculation requirements. If the estimated amount was not paid due to the fault of the head, the former employee has the right to recover from his employer his average daily earnings for each day of delay.
A citizen can also claim compensation in the event of a delay in the work book through the fault of the employer. He is obliged to pay the employee an average daily wage for the entire period of involuntary absenteeism, and the date of dismissal is changed on the day the labor book is actually issued.
If, for any reason, the term for practicing and warning the employer has come to an end, but the employee is still fulfilling his duties, the letter of resignation will be canceled. A pensioner in Belarus has the right to work after the retirement age, but if he wishes to terminate the employment contract in connection with his retirement, he will have to write a new application. At the same time, it is not necessary to work out a month.
Litigation in court
In some cases, it is not possible to peacefully terminate or terminate the contract, and both parties have to resolve the disputed moments of dismissal in court. If we are talking about an agreement with an indefinite validity period, then dismissal at will, regulated by Articles 40 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus, is the employee's legal right. In judicial practice, there are often disputes regarding labor relations. Let us draw attention to a couple of fundamental points that are relevant when considering a case by a judge.
Firstly, it is possible to terminate an employment agreement on the initiative of a subordinate only if the desire to quit is a voluntary act of will. If the employee claims that the employer forced or forced him to resign at his own request, this information will be carefully checked and examined in court. If it turns out that the application for termination of his own free will was submitted by the employee under pressure and the threat of dismissal for a specific misconduct, the court does not consider that the application was forcibly filed. If the manager had legal grounds for downsizing or dismissal of a particular employee, the court takes the side of the employer.
Secondly, the period of warning (development) can be ended earlier than 30 days from the date of application. Of fundamental importance here is the agreement between the boss and the subordinate, or the availability of the relevant conditions in the collective agreement. If the employee continued to perform his official duties after this month period, the court usually takes the side of the employer and confirms the validity of the labor agreement. But if the employer refuses to dismiss the person who is on vacation or on sick leave, the decision is made in favor of the employee.