Violation of health and safety regulations can be qualified as a violation of basic labor obligations

The Law Firm’s Client terminated an employment contract with an employee under Article 52 of the Labor Code, indicating that the employee had violated basic labor obligations regarding health and safety regulations. The employee, disagreeing with the Client’s decision, appealed to the Labor Court, claiming compensation from the Client for wrongful termination.

The Court of First Instance agreed with the plaintiff’s argument, pointing out that violation of health and safety regulations cannot constitute grounds for termination of the contract due to the employee’s fault without notice. In the court’s opinion, in the case at hand, the employer should have used milder measures to penalize the employee’s behavior, in the form of imposing a penalty of a disciplinary order or, alternatively, terminate the employment contract with notice.

As a result of an appeal prepared by The Law Firm’s attorneys, the above ruling was amended. The Regional Court fully agreed with the arguments presented by the Lawyers of the Law Firm, which resulted in the dismissal of the claim. The Court of Second Instance confirmed that violations of health and safety regulations can be qualified as gross violations of basic labor duties, thus confirming that the Law Firm’s Client’s action was correct and justified.