Employment can be terminated on either personal or economic/productive grounds. The Employment Contracts Act gives an example of such a personal reason, a severe breach or failure to comply with obligations arising from the law or the employment contract which have a material effect on the employment relationship.
Such a reason could be, for example, failure to comply with instructions and regulations issued by the employer based on his authority to manage the work.
Examples of situations where no right to dismiss was found to exist:
Varsinais-Suomen käräjäoikeus (year 2014)
The court had found that the instructions given to the workers were contradictory and that the employer needed to meet its burden of proof. The court had failed to prove that there were no severe and substantive grounds for dismissal. The employer was ordered to pay damages of 20,000 euros for unlawful dismissal.
(Rovaniemi HO, 1999:630) The failure to fulfil obligations was found to be unproven. Compensation of 27,000 euros to the dismissed worker
In the above cases, the grounds for dismissal had already been sought but could not be proved in court.
Another example of a legal ground for dismissal on personal grounds is a substantial deterioration in the employee's working conditions, making it impossible for him to carry out his duties. Such a change in circumstances could be, for example, an employee's illness. However, ANY illness is not sufficient grounds for dismissal. There may not even be a right to dismissal, even if the disease results in many absences due to sickness. Similarly, in the case of an accident at work, the employer is not usually entitled to terminate the employment contract immediately. For the right of dismissal to apply, the employee's illness must be of a certain permanence. According to the case law, there is an undisputed case of dismissal if the worker's incapacity for work has lasted for at least two years (Labour Court decision 1986/123) and also if the following applies:
TT 2002:6 The employer was entitled to terminate the employee's employment contract on the grounds of long-term illness.
The employer may have had severe grounds for termination of the employment relationship:
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- failure to perform the duties of the job, failure to comply with the employer's instructions within the limits of his right to direct the work
- unjustified absence, and
- negligence at work
Even in these cases, the employer must be able to prove that the reason for dismissal existed.
PROHIBITED PERSONAL GROUNDS FOR DISMISSAL
The law does not define all possible factual grounds for dismissal but lists those which are not, at least not as such. These include:
- Illness of the employee provided that the disease has not resulted in a substantial and permanent impairment of the employee's ability to work.
- Participation in industrial action by the worker- the employee's opinions or participation in association or social activities.
In particular, dismissal of a pregnant employee on this ground is prohibited.
