Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Labour Code states that the employer may terminate the employment contract by giving written notice to the worker or employee within the terms of Art. 326, para. 2 when work is stopped for more than 15 working days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this post, we will explain the legal nature of this ground for dismissal. Often the concept of \"suspension of work\" is used to dismiss an employee without the employer taking into account the meaning of the provision. In the absence of the legal prerequisites and upon appeal of the order, the dismissal is cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHEN IT IS ASSUMED THAT THERE IS A WORK STOPPAGE?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With regard to the question in which cases there is a suspension of work within the meaning of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Labour Code is an established case law. According to the same suspension of work for more than 15 working days is a period of time during which the worker or employee does not perform his work duties due to reasons beyond his control. The suspension may concern only the work of the specific worker or employee (if only he holds the relevant position), the work of a separate independent unit or the work of the entire enterprise. The main thing about it is that during the period of suspension of work, the labor function of the worker or employee is not carried out. This means that the suspension occurs for all workers or employees performing this work, and not only for a part of them. The law does not mean suspension of the work of the specific worker or employee, but suspension of the work provided for the position held by him. It is for this reason that the employer cannot, when the position is held by several workers or employees, issue acts ordering the suspension of work for only one or a part of them, or with other actions of his own to put some of them in a position to be unable to to work, and subsequently, on the basis of this suspension ordered by him or conditioned by his actions, terminate their employment contracts on the basis of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reducing the volume of work - difference<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In cases where the work continues to be performed, but in a reduced volume, which necessitates a smaller number of people engaged in it and may lead to a stoppage of work for a specific worker or employee, there is no stoppage of work for this work function in the sense of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Labour Code. In this case, there is a reduction in the volume of work, which, however, is an independent reason for terminating the employment relationship under Art. 328, para. 1, item 3 of the Criminal Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Closing a part of an enterprise - demarcation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The employer can also resort to closing part of the enterprise or downsizing, which, however, are also two separate and independent grounds for the termination of the employment contract provided for in the provision of Art. 328, para. 1, item 2 of the Bulgarian Labour Code.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These grounds, however, presuppose selection under the conditions and in accordance with Art. 329 of the Labour Code, as well as compliance with the provisions of Art. 333 of the LC regarding the preliminary protection of certain categories of workers and employees upon termination of their employment relationship. The last two provisions do not apply in case of termination of the employment relationship with a certain worker or employee on the basis of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Labour Code. Therefore, it is inadmissible for the employer to order the suspension of work only for part of the workers or employees performing the same activity or through other actions of his to make them unable to perform work, while the others continue to perform the same and subsequently to terminate the employment contracts on the grounds Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Labour Code. In this way, the employer circumvents compliance with the provisions of Art. 329 and Art. 333 of the Labour Code, which is inadmissible and contradicts the provision of Art. 8, para. 1 of LC. Therefore, the suspension of work of a certain worker cannot lead to his dismissal on the basis of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Bulgarian Labour Code, stopping the work of named workers is illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, when there is a suspension of work, it is assessed specifically for each worker whether his work function has been suspended, but it is not possible to suspend a certain worker from work in advance, who after the expiration of the period established by law will be fired \/Resolution No. 364 of 29.03.2017 under case No. 3617\/2016, of Bulgarian Supreme Court\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If work is resumed after lapse of 15 days<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Stopping work is an objective fact. If, upon termination of the employment contract, work has already resumed, this does not affect the right of the employer under Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Bulgarian Labour Code, as long as the stay has lasted more than 15 working days within the statutory minimum, the dismissal in the considered hypothesis is carried out unilaterally by the employer, with notice, the term of which is 30 days in the case of open-ended employment contracts and three months in the case of fixed-term employment contracts, starting from the day following the delivery of the written notice, art. 326 of the Labour Code. The legislator has not provided for another period of notice in the hypothesis of Art. 324, para. 1, item 4 of the Labour Code, which means that it is possible on the date of expiry of the given notice (i.e. on the date of termination of the employment relationship, according to Article 335, paragraph 2, item 1 of the Labour Code), the work, although it was stopped for more than 15 days, has already been resumed in full or limited volume \/Decision No. 38 of 03.04.2015 case \u2116 3695\/2014, of the Supreme Court\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does it matter if the worker was on leave during that period?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Suspension of work means temporary suspension of the company's activity due to organizational, technical or economic reasons, regardless of their specific manifestation. In hypothesis of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of Bulgarian Labour Code determines the impossibility of the employer to generate production and from there - income with which to pay labor remuneration to his workers, so it does not matter whether the worker or the employee, at the same time, could not lay labor and for another reason. The stay for the relevant period is the objective criterion for assessing whether the work has stopped, and it is irrelevant for its existence whether the worker was obliged under Art. 173, para. 7, item 1 KT to use paid annual leave or the employer has offered him to use unpaid leave under Art. 160 LC, whether, due to the stay, he was assigned to temporarily perform another job, or whether he received compensation for stay under Art. 267 of the Bulgarian Labour Code \/Decision No. 298 of 28.10.2014 case No. 977\/2014, of the Supreme Court\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can the activity be performed in another department?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When a part of the activity continues to be carried out in a separate unit of the enterprise, and another part is not carried out, there is no suspension of work within the meaning of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Bulgarian Labour Code, i.e. there is no so-called \"downtime\", even if such is announced by the employer for the same unit or for the entire enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of the legality of the dismissal under Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the LC is also the volume (significant or insignificant) in which the activity continued to be carried out during the \"outage\" announced by the employer, as well as whether it was completely and definitively suspended only subsequently - after the expiration of the period of the declared \"stay\", as these circumstances are relevant for the existence of other grounds for dismissal - under Art. 328, para. 1, item 1, item 2, proposal 1 and item 3 of the Labour Code (closing the enterprise or part of it and reducing the volume of work), but are not elements of the factual composition of Art. 328, para. 1, item 4 of the Code of Labour Code \/Decision No. 26 of 04.03.2022 case \u2116 1785\/2021, City Council, IV of the Supreme Court\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Termination of the employment relationship due to suspension of work is at first glance easy to understand. Don't let that fool you. In case you are faced with a similar case - as an employer or employee, we advise you to contact an experienced lawyer to deal with the problem.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In this post, we will explain the legal nature of this ground for dismissal. Often the concept of \"suspension of work\" is used to dismiss an employee without the employer taking into account the meaning of the provision. In the absence of the legal prerequisites and upon appeal of the order, the dismissal is cancelled.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n