Ekaterina Belyaeva commented on a Supreme Court ruling on wrongful dismissal to Pravo.ru

The Supreme Court recently rendered yet again a decision on wrongful dismissal.

A teacher who had been working faultlessly in the same school for 31 years was subject to a number of disciplinary actions as a result of which she was dismissed for violation of work regulations. Although the lower courts found nothing dubious in the case, the Supreme Court dismissed the conclusions of these courts and ruled in favor of the teacher.

This Supreme Court decision is a reminder to courts that they should consider many factors when they assess the validity of dismissal, including the employee’s personal background. It is also a reminder that a great number of disciplinary actions over a short period of time may point to abuse of rights from the employer’s side which, as a rule, is the stronger party in employment relationships.

Ekaterina Belyaeva, Associate at Forte Tax & Law, commented to Pravo.ru on the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling and noted that it is easy in practice for employers to dismiss employees in strict compliance with the law. Ekaterina also noted that court practice has been moving away from the formal approach in recent years. Ekaterina has observed that the emphasis made in decisions of recent years is that applying the correct procedure for dismissal, which is a trump card for employers in court cases, is not sufficient to draw conclusions about the validity of dismissal.

Pravo.ru entire article is available at the link