AKMV Hello, please provide an answer regarding employment relationships in the organization. I have become redundant at work, but the director has not yet given me a resignation letter to sign. For now, it is by agreement. I am supposed to find a job within two months. What happens if I don’t find one? Am I entitled to a 4-month severance pay if I have worked in the organization for 15 years? Please advise. Thank you.
Severance pay for dismissal due to organizational reasons
QUESTION
ANSWER:
According to § 63 paragraph 1 letter b) of the Labor Code, the employer may give notice of termination to an employee if: “the employee becomes redundant due to a written decision by the employer or the relevant authority concerning changes in his/her duties, technical equipment, or a reduction in the number of employees aimed at ensuring work efficiency, or other organizational changes; and an employer who is a temporary employment agency may also terminate if the employee becomes redundant due to the end of a temporary assignment under § 58 before the agreed fixed-term employment contract expires.”
However, you may also terminate the employment by mutual agreement on the date specified in the agreement.
If the employer terminates your employment for the organizational reasons stated above, you are entitled to severance pay under the Labor Code amounting to three times your average monthly earnings. If the employment ends by agreement due to organizational changes at the employer, you are entitled to severance pay equal to four times your average monthly earnings.
This follows from § 76 paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Labor Code: “An employee whose employment is terminated by the employer’s notice due to reasons stated in § 63 paragraph 1 letters a) or b), or due to the employee losing long-term ability to perform their work according to a medical assessment, is entitled upon termination to severance pay of at least:
their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least two years but less than five years,
twice their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least five years but less than ten years,
three times their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least ten years but less than twenty years,
four times their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least twenty years.
An employee whose employment ends by agreement due to the reasons stated in § 63 paragraph 1 letters a) or b), or due to long-term loss of ability to perform work based on a medical assessment, is entitled to severance pay of at least:
their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted less than two years,
twice their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least two years but less than five years,
three times their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least five years but less than ten years,
four times their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least ten years but less than twenty years,
five times their average monthly earnings if the employment lasted at least twenty years.”
If you have not yet signed a mutual termination agreement or received a termination notice, you are not obliged to end your employment after the two months given by the director to find a new job. Unless you voluntarily decide to sign the termination agreement, your employment will end only after the notice period expires following delivery of the notice by the employer.
JUDr. Veronika Michalíková, MBA