Dismissal of an employee at the initiative of the employer for a single gross violation of labour duties (clause 7 of Article 42 of the Labour Code of Belarus)

Abstract

During the third global reform of the Labour Code of the Republic of Belarus, which took place in 2019–2020, Article 42 of the Labour Code was set out in a new edition. In the updated Article 42 of the Labour Code of the Republic of Belarus, five grounds for dismissal at the initiative of the employer for a single gross violation of labour duties were combined into one paragraph 7. In 2021, this paragraph was supplemented with three new grounds. In this paper, for the first time, an attempt is made to comprehensively analyze all eight grounds for dismissal on the initiative of the employer for a single gross violation of labour duties, enshrined in paragraph 7 of Article 42 of the Labour Code of the Republic of Belarus. Within the framework of the scientific and practical analysis of eight disciplinary grounds for dismissal of an employee carried out in the article, the provisions of the Labour Code of the Russian Federation, as well as current Belarusian judicial practice, are taken into account in a comparative aspect. Special attention in the paper is paid by the authors to the procedure for termination of an employment contract for this group of disciplinary grounds, problems that arise in personnel and other law enforcement practice, as well as guarantees that employees can use when dismissed on these grounds. Proposals are made to improve the labour legislation of the Republic of Belarus and law enforcement practice in relation to this group of grounds for dismissal of employees at the initiative of the employer, which would exclude the possibility of an expansive interpretation of a number of provisions of the law, thereby eliminating possible abuse of the right by the employer and guaranteeing a higher degree of protection of workers’ rights.