LEGAL ADVICE TO THE EMPLOYER AND THE EMPLOYEE. A RUSSIAN MAN WAS FIRED FOR ABSENTEEISM FOR SEVERAL HOURS. THE SUPREME COURT STOOD UP FOR HIM

Elena Gladysheva, Managing Partner at RI-Consulting for the Secret of Firm magazine about the Supreme Court ruling and how it can change the current practice?

The lawyer in this practical material advises as to what to pay attention to not only employees, but also employers, and what should Russians who find themselves in a similar situation do?

Short story: a Russian was fired for absenteeism, and he was not at work because his boss sent him to pay for the cost of engine oil, which was not the fault of the employee. Trying to get back to work and recover money for forced absenteeism, the man went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Read more on the case:  https://secretmag.ru/survival/rossiyanina-uvolili-za-progul-v-neskolko-chasov-za-nego-vstupilsya-verkhovnyi-sud.htm

The lawyer believes that ruling of the RF Supreme Court No. 18-KG21-93-K4 dd. November 08, 2021 is fully consistent with the principles that the Supreme Court has consistently adhered to in its judicial acts:

• inadmissibility of formal examination of the case;
• the obligation of the courts to investigate all the circumstances of the case, including the explanations of the parties, the protection of the weaker party to the dispute - the employee.

The current judicial practice currently adheres to a formal approach: if the employer draws up an act of absence of an employee from the workplace, the employee is dismissed. As a rule, the courts do not take into account the reasons why the employee was absent from the workplace:

• poor health (without confirmation from the medical organization);
• conflict situations;
• any personal force majeure circumstances.

To protect his/her interests in a similar situation, the employee must remember to notify the employer in a timely manner. The right thing to do is certainly to notify the employer before leaving work, at least by a messenger. In addition, it is also necessary to collect documents confirming the force majeure circumstances that caused the emergency departure from work, to attach such documents to their explanatory letter and/or to present them as evidence in court.