GROUNDS FOR TERMINATING EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT BY AN EMPLOYER

Overview

As per Tajik Labor Law, termination of a labor contract is practicable for the Employers, however, there are certain grounds based on which the termination should be proceeded. In Tajikistan, the Labor Code is the main act that regulates labor issues and it stipulates the rights of the Employers to terminate the contract as well as highlights the process followed.

Termination of Labor Contract

The Tajik Labor Legislation grants freedom of terminating the labor contract for the Employer. Or in other words, based on its initiative, the Employer can exercise the right to end the agreement concerning the job (position) an individual is holding.

Grounds for termination of the Labor Contract

For an Employer to end the labor contract of an Employee, the termination must be legitimate and fall within the legal ground categories prescribed by the Tajik Labor Code. The main grounds for the termination under the law are the following:

Liquidation of the organization;
Staff reduction;
Change of the owner; incompatibility of the employee with their job due to the employee’s poor-quality performance of duties or their state of health;
Repeated non-compliance with or failure to perform their labor duties by the employee without valid reasons;
Absence of the employee n the workplace without valid reasons for more than 3 hours during the working day;
Termination of a contract with a part-time employee, who has another full-time job, to hire a full-time employee instead.
Serious violation of the Tajik Labor Code and other legal and regulatory documents by a CEO;
Employee’s appearance in the workplace in the state of alcohol or other intoxication;
Employee’s failure to comply with the safety rules, which resulted in serious accident or injury;
Negative results of the probation.

One of the most practicable basis for termination of the labor contract is the incompatibility of the employee’s poor quality performance of duties and other breach of obligations arising from the employment contract. In such cases, the Employee may be subject to the disciplinary measures:

In reference to the legal ground i) incompatibility of the employee with their position, it is referred to the employee being unsuitable within the surrounding environment or allying poorly with the colleagues and clients. For determining the unsuitability of the employee for the position held, the employer conducts annual or semi-annual assessment of employee’s work. In the event, the outcome of the assessment appears to be negative, the employer may dismiss the employer from the position. In terms of notification, the employer is obliged to warn the employee at least 1 (one)-month prior to the termination of the employment contract.

Following the legal ground ii) failure to perform the labor duties by the employee, it is referred to the employee constantly neglecting the expected obligations under the employment contract and poorly performing the required tasks. On these terms, the employer must issue a warning to the employee, if such employee fails to perform their duties. In case the employee fails to perform their duties for the second time, or in other words, repeats the failure, within 6 (six)-month period, the employer shall be authorized to dismiss the employee.

Additionally, the Resolution of Plenum of the Supreme Court of the RT, “On Applying by the Courts of the RT of Legislation Regulating Conclusion, Amendment and Termination of Employment Contract”, the following expansions, to the termination of employment contract based on the poor performance of the job, shall be considered:

Employee can be fired exclusively on the basis that they poorly perform the exact job and fail to complete it within the deadline set, quality demanded and accuracy expected.
The failures and poor performance of the requirements under the employment contract must be based on facts and evidences demonstrated by witnesses.
The result and opinion of the attestation on the qualities of the employee are evaluated together with the evidences.
The attestation procedure is subject to the court examination and determination of, whether the employer may or may not adhered to it.

Additional Rules for Termination of the Labor Contract

Under other legislative acts of the Republic of Tajikistan, industry or profession charters, and regulations of conduct, additional rules may be provided to authorize the Employer to take the initiative of ending the employment contract.

The Process for Termination of the Labor Contract

Under the Tajik law, the Employer is obliged to notify the Employee in the written form, about the termination of the contract signed for an indefinite period within the period of time mentioned below:

In case of liquidation – not later than two months in advance
Due to the incompatibility with the job – not later than one month

During the notification period, the employee can be absent not more than one day per week and keep the salary, while searching for a different job.

If the parties can mutually agree to terminate the contract based on the above-mentioned reasons before the notification period ends, then there has to be compensation paid that is equal to not less than the average daily payment, until the end of this period.

Moreover, the employer is responsible to notify the public entity on labor and employment, during the timelines defined by Tajik Law, about the upcoming dismissal of an employee, indicate the position that they held, and the remuneration package.

Benefits received after the Labor Contract Termination

In accordance with Tajik legislation, the following main types of remunerations are foreseen in case of labor contract termination, remained part of unpaid salary, compensation for the unused annual leave allowance, unemployment benefit and the severance payment.

The employee is granted to acquire the accrued compensation for the unused annual leave regardless of the basis of termination at any period. However, the allowance/severance and the unemployment benefit will be paid on the following grounds:

If the employer terminates the contract based on the legal grounds (a)-(c) and (f)-(h) that were stated above and
In most of the cases, when the employment contract terminates due to circumstances beyond parties’ control.

The amount of allowance should not be less than three times the Employee’s average monthly wage.

The unemployment benefit can also be granted if the terminated employee registers within the state employment agencies within 10 days after termination, and if the agency fails to find a proper job. In such case the organization may be responsible to pay the employee his/her average salary for the 2^nd and 3^rd months of unemployment after terminating the employment contract.