The procedure for terminating a contract at the initiative of an employee ahead of schedule

In modern Russia, a fixed-term contract in labor law means a special type of agreement concluded between a company or an employer and his future employee. The validity period of such an agreement cannot exceed five years, and the date of completion of the employment relationship or the expected final result is clearly stated in the text of the document. Termination of a fixed-term employment contract at the initiative of the employee takes place in accordance with the current version of the Labor Code.

However, in this situation there are some non-obvious points and pitfalls, knowledge of which is very useful for those who are going to write a statement “of their own free will”, working on the basis of a fixed-term employment contract. This material examines the intricacies of the procedure for terminating a fixed-term employment contract initiated by the employee.

Termination of a fixed-term employment contract at the initiative of the employee

What is meant by a fixed-term employment contract?

As mentioned above, Russian labor law does not recognize fixed-term contracts between an employee and an employer if they specify a period exceeding five years. Accordingly, any contract that specifies an incorrect expiration date is open-ended.

For example, the parties sign the agreement in March 2018, and plan to end their employment agreements in December 2024. From the point of view of the legislator, such an agreement should be considered unlimited - with all the ensuing consequences.

Typical examples of work in which a fixed-term contract is concluded

A fixed-term employment contract is concluded for a temporary period of up to five years. According to established practice, the most common reasons for signing this type of contract include the following:

• all kinds of seasonal work (agricultural, fishing, etc.);
• preparatory stages for the launch of production (start-up, commissioning and other operations);
• the entry of a new specialist to replace a permanent employee who has left for a certain period of time, but whose job must be retained (for example, in the case of maternity leave);
• entry into an elective position with a prescribed period for exercising the assigned powers.

As a general rule, fixed-term contracts terminate upon the arrival of the date specified in them or the achievement of the result specified in the text of the document. However, due to various reasons, the parties may terminate the employment relationship without waiting for “day X”.

Termination of labor obligations at the initiative of the employee

This type of contract can be terminated early in accordance with the employee’s initiative due to the employee’s illness or disability, which does not allow him to perform work in accordance with the concluded agreement.

Obligations are terminated if the owner violates labor legislation or the requirements of the collective agreement.

To resolve disputes about premature termination of an agreement, one must turn to the general rules that are provided for resolving such disputes.

By concluding a fixed-term contract, a person undertakes additional obligations, namely:

• carrying out work with a set duration;
• performing a specific type of activity;

Labor legislation regulates other types of employment agreements with a fixed term:

• during the absence of a permanent employee to perform his functional duties;
• temporary (2 months) and seasonal types of work;
• when sent to work abroad;
• provision of various services (repair, installation and others for up to one year);
• referral for vocational training, work practice;
• activities in elective office;
• alternative service.

A fixed-term employment contract is also concluded:

• with representatives of small businesses;
• with pensioners by age;
• with people who work in the regions of the Far North;
• with representatives of creative professions;
• with persons taking part in sea and inland navigation;
• with persons taking part in the liquidation of an accident, catastrophe, epidemic and other exceptional situations.

In what situations can an agreement be terminated prematurely?

Based on the provisions enshrined in the articles of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, it is possible that the employment relationship may be terminated before the expiration of the initially agreed terms for a number of reasons:

• by agreement of both participants;
• at the initiative of superiors;
• at the personal request of the employee.

The subtleties and details of the first two points are given in Articles 77, 78 and 81 of the Labor Code. At the same time, the nuances of terminating a fixed-term contract are included in a separate article - it is assigned number 79.

Article 79. Termination of a fixed-term employment contract

We described the intricacies of terminating a fixed-term employment contract upon expiration in this article. The procedure for dismissing an employee, grounds for termination of a contract and analysis of judicial practice. Excerpts from labor legislation and sample documents are attached.

Why can an employee terminate a fixed-term contract?

The main difference between a fixed-term employment contract and an open-ended one is the presence in the text of the first end date of the period for which a person becomes an employee of the current employer. Otherwise, these two forms of employment contracts differ little from each other in any significant way.

Accordingly, the legislator considers the termination of a fixed-term contract as a separate, but practically similar to general practice procedure. The difference here lies only in some details, the most important of which we will discuss in more detail below.

As for the reasons based on which an employee can initiate the dismissal procedure at his own request, they can be very different: from respectful and force majeure to a spontaneous decision. In any case, these actions will fall under the provisions of Article 80 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, which talks about the termination of the contract between the employer and the employee at the initiative of the latter.

Article 80. Termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the employee (at his own request)

Thus, the legislator recognizes the right of a person working under fixed-term employment to terminate his employment relationship with his current employer. Strictly speaking, a person who wants to terminate a fixed-term contract is not obliged to give any explanation for his decision. He is only required to fulfill a number of conditions prescribed by the provisions of labor legislation.

The procedure for dismissing an employee on a fixed-term contract at his own request

The only obligation imposed on a person who decides to terminate a fixed-term agreement without waiting for the date agreed upon when signing it is to provide advance notice of such intention.

Termination of a fixed-term employment agreement can occur either by mutual agreement or by the sole decision of the parties

In situations where the agreement is concluded for a period of two months or a longer period of time, the employee is obliged to notify management of the desire to stop working two weeks before the planned date of termination of the contract. If we are talking about a contract initially designed for a period of less than two months, it is enough to notify three days in advance.

At the same time, the employer’s representatives do not have the legal right to prevent the early termination of the existing contract. The employee who announced his dismissal and supported this with an appropriate statement continues to work out the days required by law and receives a full payment on the last day. Moreover, in practice there are often situations when the employer does not insist on this “working off” and is ready to part with the employee in a shorter period of time than specified in the law.

Reasons why an employee may resign early

The Labor Code cites several points as reasons that may serve as grounds for termination of a fixed-term contract at the request of an employee. It should be emphasized that the law lists the main, but not all, options. That is, this list is not exhaustive and closed.

Table 1. Situations that may become a reason for voluntary dismissal

The employee may not give any reasons at all for his decision “on his own” in the application. However, if he wants to quit without the work required by law, and his boss is not inclined to allow him to do so, the reason will still have to be documented. Upon provision of the necessary papers and certificates, the agreement is considered terminated by agreement of both parties.

How to correctly write a statement of your own free will?

An application on behalf of an employee who is bound by a fixed-term contract and wants to terminate it is typical for generally accepted document flow. It must include an indication of the full names of the parties between whom this agreement was concluded, the text itself with a request for early termination of the employment relationship, as well as the date and personal signature of the person submitting the application.

It doesn’t matter what the reason for dismissal is - the employee can leave at any time by notifying his superiors in advance

The question of whether to indicate or omit the reasons that prompted a person to terminate the contract early is left to the discretion of the author of the application. Let us remind you that the number of days that he will have to work after submitting an application to the employer may directly depend on what arguments the employee resorts to.

Upon receipt of this application, the employer’s representative responsible for personnel records management is obliged to issue an order to dismiss the employee in accordance with the provisions of Article 80 of the Labor Code. The applicant confirms the fact of familiarization with the order with a personal signature.

Sample application for voluntary resignation

Important point! An employee who has declared his desire to terminate a fixed-term contract, by law, has the right to withdraw the application paper on any of the days of compulsory service. If the boss did not have time to hire a new employee to replace the resigning employee at that time, the applicant retains his position and continues to work. Roughly speaking, it is believed that he never filed an application to terminate the contract. Refusal to cancel the dismissal paper can only be given upon signing a full-fledged employment contract with the new employee.

Termination of obligations at the initiative of the owner

Similar situations arise in the following cases:

• Termination of the enterprise's activities. Dismissed people must be paid benefits in the amount of the average monthly salary. It is stored for two months.
• Staff reductions at the enterprise. Workers with long experience and high professionalism and other advantages have an advantage. Coordination is being carried out with the trade union committee of the organization.
• Inconsistency with the position performed as a result of low qualifications.
• Repeated violation by an employee of the internal regulations of the enterprise.

What are the consequences of terminating a contract at the initiative of an employee?

As already emphasized above, during all working days, the status of the employee who wrote the application is no different from that of an ordinary employee. He continues to fulfill all the labor duties assigned to him by the employer, since each day of this work will be paid to him in full upon receipt of the payment.

The counting of days of compulsory service begins on the day following the date of submission of the application. The date of early termination of a fixed-term contract is not the day when the employee signed the order for his own dismissal, but the day of his last return to work. It is then that the person is given a work book, where the corresponding entry is first made. At the same time, the former employee receives a full payment from the ex-employer’s accounting department.

In the event that on the final day of work all the above-described procedures were not completed, and the employee does not stop performing his job duties, this situation is fully considered as a refusal to dismiss. This, in turn, may lead to the recognition of an application submitted earlier as annulled.

Obviously, an immutable condition of a fixed-term employment contract is a time frame. The logical conclusion from this thesis is the following: the party taking the initiative to terminate an agreement of this type early is considered responsible for potential failures to meet the deadlines specified in it. However, any claim of this nature can be ignored if the employer agrees to this.

If the employer has claims against the employee, they must be resolved with the participation of the labor commission. After this stage is completed, the case may proceed in court if the parties do not reach a compromise.

Possible difficulties

Difficulties begin the moment an employee wants to quit before the expiration of the contract. In this case, he must also write a statement to the manager and indicate in it that he wants to terminate the signed contract. If the manager approves such a statement, the dismissal process will begin. But in most cases, employees are refused.

But even in this case, there is a way out of the situation . For example, you need to find a good reason and indicate it in the application. Then the boss can reconsider his decision. If this option is not suitable, then you can carefully study the terms of the contract and try to find violations on the part of the employer. After this, you should contact the labor dispute commission. In such a situation, dismissal may be delayed for several weeks or more, but the employee will be able to terminate the contract with his employer.

There are also situations when the manager does not want to accept an application from an employee, even if his contract is coming to an end. In this case, the paper can not be given to the personnel department, but sent by registered mail with notification. Then the employee will have a document confirming that the application was submitted. After two weeks of work, you can safely not go to work.

If, after this period, the employee is still not paid or a work book is not issued, then you should contact the labor inspectorate or the district prosecutor's office . In this case, a full inspection will be carried out, after which the employer will be obliged to dismiss the employee at his own request.

Tips for those who accept the option of early dismissal

Labor dispute specialists recommend that before concluding a fixed-term contract, you carefully study the entire text of the contract and substantively discuss each clause that affects the mutual obligations of the future employee and his employer. This precaution will help to identify points that may subsequently be interpreted as violations of the terms of the fixed-term contract being signed.

This clause primarily applies to professional athletes. According to Article 348.12 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, breaking a fixed-term contract for them may be fraught with the payment of a serious penalty to the employer if there is no compelling reason to terminate the contract.

Article 348.12. Features of termination of an employment contract with an athlete or coach

All other participants in labor relations do not face such costs in a similar situation, however, they should also think through all actions in advance - and only then voice a decision on early termination of the contract with the wording “on their own.” Ideally, the possibility of terminating a fixed-term employment contract should be provided for even before it is signed by the employee and the employer.

Video - Grounds for termination of an employment contract