Content of a Notice of Termination of Employment

Act No. 262/2006 Coll., Labour Code, explicitly specifies under which circumstances and in which way is an employer allowed to terminate an employment law relationship.

An employment law relationship may be terminated inter alia by giving a notice. The Supreme Court of the Czech Republic has recently (decision as of 02.02.2015, Reference Number 21 Cdo 1161/2013) dealt with a question of the content of a notice of termination of employment.

In this case the employer has delivered to the employee a document in which the employer notified the employee of the immediate termination of employment. Apart from the immediate termination of the employment the document also contained a provision that in case that the court decides about the invalidity of the immediate termination of employment, the document should be considered as a notice of termination of employment given for the same reasons as the immediate termination.

According to the legal regulations, legal effects of a notice (for example the beginning of the notice period) are associated with its delivery. But in this case the legal effects of the notice were postponed only for the case that the court decides about the invalidity of the immediate termination of the employment.

In compliance with the above mentioned decision, the postponement of the legal effects associated with the delivery of a notice can’t depend on uncertain circumstances that can come to pass only in the future, if ever. Such legal act (notice of termination of employment) is according to the Supreme Court considered to be invalid.