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Liability of the parties of the employment contract

I. Disciplinary liability

Only the employee may be disciplinary liable if he violates his obligations.

A. The reasons for disciplinary liability are listed in Article 187 of the Labour Code:

  1. Late reporting to or early departure from work, absence from work, inefficient work during working hours;
  2. Reporting to work in a state not suitable to fulfil one`s tasks;
  3. Non-performance of one’s job, non-observance of the technical or technological rules;
  4. Manufacture of sub-standard products;
  5. Non-observance of the safety and health regulations;
  6. Failure to carry out the lawful orders of the employer;
  7. Abuse of confidence and injury to the good name of the enterprise as well as divulging proprietary information of the enterprise;
  8. Damage to the property of the employer and dissipation of resources, raw materials, energy and other means;
  9. Non-fulfilment of other employment obligations provided by the laws and regulations, by the internal labour regulations, the collective contract or arising from the employment relationship.

B. Reasons for disciplinary dismissal (Article 190 of the Labour Code):

  1. Reporting to work late or early departure on three occasions, each no less than one hour, within one calendar month;
  2. The employee does not show up at work on 2 consecutive working days;
  3. Systematic violation of the working discipline;
  4. Abuse of the employer’s trust or betrayal of confidential information;
  5. Causing losses to other persons by employees in the trade and services industries by fraud in the price, the weight, the quality of the item or service;
  6. Participation in games of chance or gambling using the employer’s means of telecommunication;
  7. Other serious violations of the working discipline.

II. Financial liability

A. The employee’s liability for financial losses – Article 203 to 212 of the Labour Code

The employee is liable if he culpably causes damages while performing work-related obligations and thereby violates his obligation to protect the employer’s assets against damages.

The employee is not liable if the damage occurred within the normal commercial and production risk (Article 204 of the Labour Code).

Regarding the extent, the following forms of liability may be differentiated:

a) full liability – the employee is responsible to the full extent of the damage caused. Regarding this liability the amount of the labour remuneration is not taken into account. Conditions:

  1. the damage has been caused intentionally (Article 203 (2) of the Labour Code);
  2. the damage has been caused while committing a criminal offence (paragraph 2);
  3. the damage has not been caused while performing a task of the employment;
  4. shortage in the cash assets or the inventory (so-called damages with unascertainable origin) – Article 207 (1), p.2.

If the damage has been caused by several employees, they are jointly and severally liable (joint debtors) – Article 208 (1), p.2.

b) limited liability for damage – it may not exceed the amount of the labour remuneration. The legal regulations may be found in the Articles 203 (1, 3), 204 to 209 and 210 of the Labour Code. The employee has a limited liability if he caused the damage merely negligently.

Extent of the liability (Article 206):

  • regarding ordinary employees – to the extent of the inflicted damages but not more than the monthly labour remuneration;
  • regarding executive employees – to the extent of the inflicted damages but not more than the tripled value of the monthly labour remuneration;
  • regarding employees entrusted with accounting tasks – to the full extent.

In cases of limited liability the employer must issue an order defining the reason and the extent of the liability (Article 210 of the Labour Code). The order is issued within one month after the damage had been discovered (but not more than year later after the infliction).

Regarding executive employees and employees entrusted with accounting tasks the time limits amount respectively to 3 months and 5 years.

If the employee does not objection the reason or the amount of his liability within one month, the employer deducts the amount from the labour remuneration. If the employee disagrees with the reason or the amount of the liability, the employer may bring an action before the court.

B. Financial liability of the employer

According to Article 200 (1) of the Labour Code, the employer is financially liable for damages that led to the temporary or permanent inability to work or the death of an employee. The damages may also be caused by a managing organ or another employee of his.

The employer is liable if the work related accident occurred due to a force majeure or due to the performance of work related obligations or during periods of rest.

The employer’s liability may be excluded if the employee caused the damages intentionally (Article 201 (1) of the Labour Code). The liability may be limited as well in cases that the employee contributed to the work related accident.

If the employer paid compensation, he is entitled to the right of repayment against the employee that acted culpably.

Otherwise, the employer owes compensation in the following cases:

  1. In case of unlawful non-admission of the employee to the workplace (Article 213);
  2. In case of temporary suspension from the work(Article 214);
  3. In case of business trips (Article 215);
  4. In case of reassignment (Article 216);
  5. In case of a rehabilitation reassignment (Article 217);
  6. In cases of natural disasters (Article 218);
  7. If the employee lawfully refuses to fulfil his work-related obligations (Article 219);
  8. In case of failure to provide notice for termination of the contract (Article 220);
  9. In case of termination of the employment relationship without notice by the employee, whereby the employee is not at fault (Article 221);
  10. In cases of termination for other reasons;
  11. If there are unused vacations;
  12. For other damages that have been caused by the employer;

*The amount of the compensation is calculated based on the gross remuneration of the last month if not provided otherwise (Article 228 of the Labour Code).