Warning of dismissal at the initiative of the employer: deadlines

How many days in advance the employer must notify the employee of the expected dismissal depends on the reasons for the termination of the employment relationship. The legislator defines various terms and also identifies the grounds for which notification of an employee is not required. Compliance with warning periods is mandatory to establish the legality of dismissal, otherwise termination of the employment contract will be considered unlawful.

Algorithm of actions

A notice of dismissal is given to employees only when the manager issues an order to terminate the employment relationship. Thus, when signing the order, the boss must indicate the grounds for termination of the contract, a list of all employees who will be affected by the dismissal, the last working day of each of them, as well as the responsible persons who will send notifications and prepare administrative papers.
And while the appointed employees are preparing notification documents, the manager sends information about the upcoming dismissal of citizens to the employment service. A mass dismissal must be reported at least three months before the date of termination of the employment relationship, and a single case must be reported two months before. A notice of dismissal is given to each employee personally against signature. If the document is not marked by the person regarding familiarization, such dismissal may be considered illegal.

Registration and transmission of notification

The transfer by one party of a document notifying the other party of the termination of the employment relationship is associated with a number of nuances. There are no strict requirements for the form of notification, but it must be in writing. Strict requirements mean the presence or absence of the preposition “from” in the header, the width of the fields and similar details. The notice can be either handwritten or printed. Other nuances:

1. The employee can personally bring the application to the company or send it via regular mail. When sent by post, the 2-week delivery period does not include delivery time.
2. If the warning comes from the administration, it is handed to the citizen in the personnel department. The employee must either sign the document or refuse to sign. In the second case, an act of refusal to sign is drawn up. Witnesses sign the act.
3. A citizen has the right to send a letter of resignation to his superiors by email, but only on the condition that he has a digital signature (DS). Without an electronic signature, the document will not have legal force.
4. Sending a letter of resignation in the form of a telegram has been legalized. To give the document legal force, the sender's signature must be certified by the postal operator.
5. The employee must indicate the date on which he wishes to resign. On this day he will still have to perform labor functions.
6. When a citizen gets a job and works for at least 1 day, and then wants to quit, he must write a statement no later than 14 days before the upcoming termination of the trade union, unless otherwise provided by the Labor Code and other regulations. The employer can accommodate and shorten this period.

If an employee wishes to resign without working (this is an incorrect expression, but it is often used), this can be done while on vacation. In this case, you will have to write an application at least 2 weeks before the end of the vacation period. The period established by law regarding how many days in advance the employer must be notified of dismissal also applies to sick leave. An employee who is temporarily absent from duties due to illness may submit a letter of resignation to the employer. This also needs to be done 2 weeks in advance.

Failure to comply with the above deadlines by one of the parties is interpreted as an offense. The second party can appeal against unlawful actions in court.

Not necessary

The legislation also defines a number of cases in which managers do not have to send notice of termination of an employment contract to their employees. Such cases include:

• receipt by the employer of a summons to conscript an employee for military service;
• when the court decided to reinstate a previously dismissed employee to his position;
• if, due to the reorganization of the enterprise, the legal entity has changed its location and the employee cannot continue to work;
• due to medical contraindications, continue to work;
• applying to the employee punishment in the form of imprisonment for committing a criminal offense;
• when, due to the application of administrative penalties, an employee is prohibited from engaging in a certain type of activity that was part of his official duties;
• the occurrence of legal facts due to which the enterprise can no longer continue to operate effectively (natural disasters, martial law, man-made disasters);
• biological death of one of the parties to the employment agreement.

Important! To ensure that the judge does not refute the legality of the dismissal for the above reasons, the company management must attach an official supporting document to the dismissal order.

Management staff

The notice period for dismissal, when the termination of employment relations occurs on the initiative of the management of the enterprise, is divided into several types depending on the circumstances of the termination of official powers. Thus, the legislator identifies the following types of warning terms:

• 3 days;
• 1 month;
• 2 months.

The employee is warned three days in advance about dismissal in cases where the applicant was assigned a probationary period and did not pass it, that is, after the labor test had expired, a decision was made not to renew the contract.
Also, upon expiration of a fixed-term contract, the employee must be notified of this at least three calendar days before the appointed date. If management wishes to continue the employment relationship with the employee, then there is no need to issue a warning. If an enterprise switches to a procedure for filling vacancies on a competitive basis due to the bankruptcy of the company, then the main staff is reduced, for which notice is given one month in advance.

In all cases related to the termination of the activities of a legal entity, reorganization, reduction in the number of employees or the elimination of specific positions, it is necessary to stipulate the prospect of termination of the contract at least two months in advance. The counting day for this term will be the day the employee receives an official warning.

In addition, in some cases, the company's management should also warn the trade union. On a general basis, two months are allocated for a planned reduction in the number of employees and three months for mass layoffs due to changes in the company’s production volume.

How can an employee tell their employer that they want to resign?

One of the grounds for termination of an employment contract is the dismissal of an employee at his own request. An employee can resign at any time, but he must notify the employer of his intention in advance. How can an employee communicate his desire to resign?

Application for voluntary resignation

As soon as an employee decides to resign, he should write a statement addressed to the head of the organization and state his intention in it. The application must be made in writing. Verbal notification is invalid. The application must indicate the date of dismissal. An employee can submit a letter of resignation even during illness, while on vacation, or on a business trip.

How many days in advance do I need to write a resignation letter?

The employee must express his desire no later than two weeks before the desired date of dismissal. The specified period begins the next day after the employer receives the application. For example, if an employee wants to quit on December 30, then he needs to write a statement no later than December 16.

Sample letter of resignation at the initiative of an employee

General Director of New Horizons LLC Alekseev I.N. from chief engineer L.D. Zaitsev

Statement

I ask you to dismiss me voluntarily on December 30, 2011.

12/16/2011 Zaitsev L.D. Zaitsev

The employee must comply with internal labor regulations

During the two-week period, we advise employees to comply with internal labor regulations and not leave their workplace without permission. Otherwise, the employer will have the right to terminate the employment contract citing violation of labor discipline.

Is it possible to quit before the two-week notice period expires?

An employment contract may be terminated before the two-week notice period, but only if an agreement on this is reached between the employee and the employer. If the employer objects, the employee must work for two weeks.

If the dismissal of an employee is caused by the impossibility of continuing work (enrollment in college, retirement, long-term business trip of a spouse, etc.), then such a reason should be indicated in the application and a supporting document must be attached. In this case, the employer is obliged to dismiss the employee within the period specified in the application.

If the employee is on probation

If an employee is hired on a probationary period, he can submit a letter of resignation without observing the two-week period. He has the right to notify the employer of his intention three days in advance.

Application from a conscript employee

Employees hired for up to two months or to perform seasonal work can write a letter of resignation three calendar days in advance.

An employee may change his mind and withdraw his resignation letter

During the two-week notice period of dismissal, the employee has the right to change his mind at any time and withdraw his application. In this case, the employer will not fire him. But if another employee is invited in writing to take his place, the employee can no longer withdraw his application.

Staff employees

And on the other hand, the dismissed employee is required to notify the employer of his desire to terminate the contract. The Law also sets out several types of deadlines for this. In general, notification occurs two weeks before the actual day of termination of work duties . This period is reduced to three calendar days if the desire to terminate the contract arises during the probationary period. This rule also applies when seasonal work is terminated on the initiative of the worker.

Deadlines

On the last working day, which is considered the day of dismissal, the citizen is given the due payment, compensation for vacation, work book and a copy of the order. From the day the parties became aware of the upcoming termination of the employment contract, a certain number of days must pass, but this is not at all necessary 14. For certain cases, the articles of the Labor Code establish other deadlines (in days). Here is how many days an employee must give notice of dismissal in various situations:

• early termination of TD - 30 (Article 280);
• The TD was concluded for a period of less than 2 months - 3 (Article 292);
• the employee’s desire to resign before the expiration of the probationary period - 3 (Article 71);
• dismissal at will in the absence of special circumstances - 14 (Article 80);
• early termination of a labor contract at the initiative of an employee in seasonal employment - 3 (Article 296).

Regardless of how long in advance the employee must notify the employer about his dismissal, the latter can meet halfway and dismiss the employee from his position earlier, if possible.

There are also situations in which the employer must notify the employee of the upcoming dismissal within a specified period of time. All of them are regulated by articles of the Labor Code. Prerequisites for termination of TD and notice period in days:

• conclusion of a TD for a period of less than 2 months - 3 (Article 292);
• liquidation of a legal entity or reduction in the number of full-time employees - 90 (Article 180);
• expiration of the period of validity of urgent TD - 3 (Article 79);
• unsatisfactory results of the probationary period - 3 (Article 71).

If there is a reduction in staffing levels, the management of the enterprise must notify the trade union organization about this.
According to the text of Art. 82 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, the warning period is 60 days. In other cases, it is not necessary to send a warning to the trade union. The law provides the grounds on which the dismissal of a citizen is allowed ahead of schedule. These are mostly special cases. Thus, termination of an employment contract with a teacher may be a consequence of the fact that the latter violates the Charter of the educational institution or uses unacceptable methods of influence against students (humiliates, exerts psychological pressure).

A civil servant can be dismissed immediately if he discloses confidential information. Also, early dismissal of a civil servant occurs when it becomes known that he combines commercial and official activities.