Unilateral termination of employment of pensionable workers held unconstitutional : between equal treatment, the principle of legality and pure formalism

Hude, Zarja (author)

During the second wave of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Slovenian legislator adopted the Act Determining Intervention Measures to Assist in Mitigating the Consequences of the Second Wave of COVID-19 Epidemic (Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za pomoč pri omilitvi posledic drugega vala epidemije COVID-19). According to the draft law, the aim of the emergency piece of legislation was to mitigate and eliminate negative effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on businesses, the labour market, the healthcare system and social security schemes. Nevertheless, the intervention act also amended provisions concerning the termination of employment contract by introducing a new exception to the requirement of a substantiated valid (business) reason for dismissing a worker. The employers in both private and public sector were now eligible to terminate the employment contracts of workers who met the conditions for acquiring the right to an old-age pension without stating or justifying any valid (business) reason whatsoever. The article examines the judgement of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia reached in a case put forward by Slovenian trade unions and the Advocate of the Principle of Equality, with an emphasis on the courts somewhat formalistic approach to what could have been a major antidiscrimination decision concerning old-age.

• Language: English
• Keywords: employment contract, old-age, termination of contract, retirement, equal treatment
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.03 - Short Scientific Article
• Organization: PF - Faculty of Law
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2022
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 381-391, 408, 424
• Numbering: Letn. 82
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-144688
• UDC: 349:347.9:616(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 1854-3839
• DOI: 10.51940/2022.1.381-391
• COBISS.SI-ID: 132759555
• Publication date in RUL: 08.03.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Zbornik znanstvenih razprav
• Shortened title: Zb. znan. razpr.
• Publisher: Pravna fakulteta
• ISSN: 1854-3839
• COBISS.SI-ID: 223437312

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Enostranska odpoved pogodbe o zaposlitvi delavcem, ki izpolnjujejo pogoje za starostno upokojitev, je v neskladju z ustavo

Abstract

Sredi drugega vala epidemije covida-19 je Državni zbor z namenom omejitve in odprave negativnih učinkov epidemije za gospodarstvo, trg dela, zdravstva in sisteme socialne varnosti sprejel Zakon o interventnih ukrepih za pomoč pri omilitvi posledic drugega vala epidemije COVID-19 (ZIUPOPDVE). Kljub tako določenemu namenu pa je zakon omogočil tudi odpoved pogodb o zaposlitvi delavcem, ki so izpolnili pogoje za starostno upokojitev, ne da bi njihovemu delodajalcu, bodisi v javnem bodisi zasebnem sektorju, bilo treba navesti oziroma utemeljiti obstoj (poslovnega) razloga. Prispevek obravnava odločbo Ustavnega sodišča RS v zadevi, ki so jo zaradi očitane diskriminacije sprožili sindikati in zagovornik načela enakosti, pri čemer se osredinja na nekoliko formalističen pristop sodišča v zadevi, ki bi sicer lahko bila ena najpomembnejših nacionalnih odločb o enakosti pred zakonom ne glede na starost.

• Keywords: pogodba o zaposlitvi, starost, odpoved pogodbe, upokojitev, enaka obravnava