AKMV Cancellation of the request for termination of employment and oral employment contract
QUESTION
In February, I submitted a request for termination of my employment by mutual agreement, effective from April 30, 2020. I was supposed to start a new job on May 1, 2020, but the new employer informed me that the hiring of new employees has been suspended until further notice. Can I ask my current employer to cancel the termination request due to force majeure? Otherwise, I would have to register at the employment office on May 1, 2020.
ANSWER:
If you have signed an agreement with your former employer to terminate your employment and this agreement has also been signed by the employer, it is not possible to revoke your request for termination by mutual agreement. The only option would be to come to a new agreement with your former employer to rehire you.
According to Section 1(4) of the Labor Code: “If this law does not stipulate otherwise in the first part, the general provisions of the Civil Code apply to legal relationships under subsection 1.”
According to Section 43a of the Civil Code:
- A manifestation of intent aimed at concluding a contract, which is addressed to one or more specific persons, is a proposal for concluding a contract (hereinafter referred to as “proposal”), if it is sufficiently definite and it is clear from it that the offeror intends to be bound if the proposal is accepted.
The proposal is effective from the moment it is received by the person to whom it is addressed. A proposal, even if irrevocable, can be canceled by the offeror if a notice of cancellation reaches the person to whom it is addressed before or at the same time as the proposal.
Until the contract is concluded, the proposal can be revoked if the revocation reaches the person to whom it is addressed before this person sends the acceptance of the proposal.
Regarding the new employment relationship, even an oral employment contract with the new employer can be valid. This is confirmed by legal literature, which states: “In the context of Section 17(2) of the Labor Code, if the Labor Code specifies the form as written but without the clause ‘otherwise invalid,’ the failure to use the written form is a violation of the Labor Code but does not result in the invalidity of the legal act… In this regard, we refer to the findings in the judgment of the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic (Case No. 21 Cdo 2287/2002 – PR 3/2004), according to which ‘the question of whether an employment contract has been concluded is not determined by the subjective views of the parties on the establishment of the employment relationship, but by an objective determination of whether and when such facts occurred that the legal norm associates with the creation of an employment contract. Since the employer is obliged to agree with the employee on the type of work for which the employee is hired, the workplace (municipality and organizational unit or another designated location), the date of commencement of work, and the wage conditions, the employment contract is concluded when the parties agree on the content of these essential elements. This can occur both in writing, orally, or in any other way that does not raise doubts about what the parties intended to express.'” (Švec, Marek; Toman, Jozef: Labor Code – Commentary. Wolters Kluwer. 2019)
Of course, it would be necessary to prove that the employment contract was indeed concluded.
JUDr. Veronika Michalíková, MBA