Everything you need to know about employer notice

Quick overview

An employer may only give notice of termination of employment for the reasons set out in the Labour Code. The notice must be in writing and the reason must be factually defined so that it cannot be changed afterwards. In addition, for some reasons, the employer must first give the employee written notice or a chance to make amends. After the flexinovela, the notice period has also changed: for notices under Section 52(f) to (h) of the Labour Code, it is at least one month and starts from the date of delivery of the notice, not from the beginning of the following month. For other notices, the notice period shall be at least 2 months.

When may an employer give notice to an employee

The Labour Code allows only a closed set of reasons. In practice, these are mainly organisational changes, long-term incapacity for work, failure to meet the legal prerequisites or requirements for the performance of the job and breaches of work duties. However, it is not enough to simply copy a paragraph. The notice must clearly describe what happened and why it is the reason for the termination.

This is especially important because the court in a dispute does not look at what the employer “meant” but what the employer actually wrote in the notice. If the reason is vague, imprecise or confusing, the notice may be invalid even if there is a real problem.

Organisational reasons: common, but not without risk

Redundancy following an organisational change tends to be the most common employer termination. This can be the abolition of a post, the merging of agencies, a reduction in staff or the transfer of part of the activity elsewhere. The decision to make the organisational change must exist before the termination and there must be a genuine causal link between the change and the redundancy of the particular employee.

This is where the practical error in timing tends to occur. If an employer abolishes a job too early, there may be a situation where the employee is still on the job but the employer no longer has a job for him. Then there may be a barrier on the employer’s side and an obligation to pay wage replacement. It is safer to set the effective date of the organisational change to the date when the employment relationship ends or shortly thereafter.

Redundancy payments are usually linked to organisational reasons. In the case of dismissal for reasons under Section 52(a) to (c) of the Labour Code, the employee is entitled to a severance payment depending on the duration of the employment relationship, typically in the amount of one to three average monthly earnings.

When the problem lies with the employee

Another large group of terminations are those related to the employee’s breach of his/her duties or long-term failure to perform the work as he/she should. Here, it is necessary to distinguish between what is a minor problem, what is already a serious breach and what would justify even immediate termination of employment. Not every late arrival or one-off misconduct is enough to warrant dismissal.

For consistent minor misconduct, the employee must have been warned in writing of the possibility of termination within the last 6 months. This “reprimand” should specifically describe what the employer is accusing the employee of doing. Only if the employee breaches his/her duties again after such a warning can dismissal follow.

A similar process applies to unsatisfactory performance. The employer cannot dismiss the employee immediately. It must first invite him in writing to remedy the deficiencies and give him reasonable time to improve. Only if the situation does not improve even then can he or she use dismissal.

In addition, after the flexinovela, the new length of notice period must be remembered. In the case of terminations pursuant to Section 52(f) to (h) of the Labour Code, i.e. typically in the case of failure to meet expectations, unsatisfactory performance or breach of duty, the notice period is at least one month. For the other grounds, the notice period shall remain at least two months.

Protection period: when notice cannot be given

Even if a legal reason exists, an employer cannot give notice at any time. The law protects employees during so-called protection periods, for example during temporary sick leave, pregnancy, maternity or parental leave. There are exceptions, of course, but in general, this is where extra caution is needed.

In practice, this means that the employer should always check that the employee is not in a period of special protection before giving notice. A mistake on this point may lead to the entire notice being invalid, even if the reason for the notice is otherwise impeccable.

How the notice period runs today

Today, it is no longer generally the case that the notice period does not always start until the first day of the following month. Under the current rules, it starts on the day on which the notice is served on the other party and ends on the day that coincides with that day in number. If there is no such day in the last month, it shall end on the last day of the month.

Example: if the employer serves notice on the employee on 15 June and it is a normal two-month notice, the employment relationship will end on 15 August. If the notice is pursuant to Article 52(f) to (h) of the Labour Code, it will already end on 15 July, unless a longer period is agreed.

What mistakes employers make most often

The most common mistake is a vaguely written notice, a poorly chosen reason for giving notice, or a failure to follow a previous procedure, such as a lack of a written reprimand. However, mistakes in delivery, in the assessment of the protection period or in the timing of an organisational change are also recurrent in practice.

A second common mistake is the belief that if an employee is “objectively problematic”, the court will always uphold the termination. It doesn’t. In employment law, details, form, and evidentiary preparedness make the difference. That is why it does not pay to improvise or adopt general patterns without adapting to the specific situation.

Summary

Termination by the employer must be based on a precise legal reason and on the correct procedure. Following the amendment effective from 1 June 2025, the notice period has changed and has been reduced to at least 1 month for the reasons under section 52(f) to (h) of the Labour Code. Organisational terminations remain frequent, but it is important to time them well and to allow for any severance pay. In the case of a problem employee, the law often requires prior written notice or a call for improvement. Errors in termination can be very costly to employers, so it pays to prepare the notice carefully and with consideration for the particular circumstances of the case.