ENSURING EQUAL RIGHTS FOR EMPLOYEES WHEN DISMISSED FOR UNLAWFUL MISCONDUCT

Abstract

The article is devoted to clarifying the legal nature of termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the employer on the grounds of employees committing illegal acts. Based on the analysis of the norms of the Labor Code of Ukraine and the judicial practice of their application, it is concluded that the grounds for termination of an employment contract at the initiative of the employer are divided into dismissal for disciplinary offenses and other illegal acts committed by the employee. The basis for such a division is the time of committing illegal acts (during the performance of labor duties or at another time) and the place (at the workplace or outside it). It has been established that the distinction of illegal acts as grounds for termination of employment relations into disciplinary offenses and other offenses is not provided for in special legislation, in particular in the Laws of Ukraine “On Civil Service”, “On the Prosecutor’s Office”, “On the Judiciary and the Status of Judges”. Moreover, the same actions (for example, violation of ethical, moral norms) in the above-mentioned laws are classified as disciplinary offenses, but not in the Labor Code of Ukraine. It is substantiated that the dismissal of an employee from work for committing illegal actions (which are recognized or not recognized by the law as disciplinary offenses) is a legal liability applied by the employer. Differences in the terms and procedure for dismissal for disciplinary offenses and other illegal actions put employees who are dismissed on different grounds in an unequal legal position. Given the peculiarities of the legal regulation of the dismissal of employees for disciplinary offenses and in order to ensure equality of rights and prevent discrimination of employees, the need to establish uniform requirements and guarantees for all employees whose employment contract is terminated on the basis of committing unlawful acts, regardless of whether they were committed during or outside of work, at the workplace or in everyday life, whether such acts are related to work or not, is justified. Such norms will ensure equality and inadmissibility of discrimination of individuals, which are not only constitutional principles of the national legal system of Ukraine, but also fundamental values of the world community.