An employer may cancel an employment contract if the continuance of the employment relationship on the agreed conditions becomes impossible due to a decrease in the work volume or reorganisation of work caused by economic circumstances (lay-off pursuant to subsection 89 (1) of the Employment Contracts Act).
Upon cancellation of an employment contract, the employer must take into account the principle of equal treatment (subsection 89 (4) of the Employment Contracts Act) according to which the employer must, among other things, avoid treating the employee less favourably because of his or her parenthood and the performance of family obligations. It’s important that the age of a child is not of decisive importance according to the principle of equal treatment. A disabled child in need of care can therefore also be an adult child.
If the child of a person returning from parental leave has turned three years of age, the termination of the employment relationship due to parenting and the performance of family obligations is restricted on the basis of clause 92 (1) 2) and subsection 89 (4) of the Employment Contracts Act and clauses 6 (2) 1) and 7) and subsection 5 (1) of the Gender Equality Act.
It should be borne in mind that parental leave is only temporary. When making changes to working arrangements, the employer must take into account that the person on leave will return to work. A person returning from parental leave must be able to get their previous job back both before his or her child has reached the age of three as well as if they return to work when his or her child has just turned three.
If the previous job cannot be given back to an employee returning from parental leave due to the reorganisation of work, the employee must offer them another suitable job if possible to avoid termination of the employment contract. The employer is not obliged to offer another job in the case of termination of operations or bankruptcy.
The obligation to offer another job to the employee laid down in subsection 89 (3) TLS cannot be replaced with the organisation of a competition for vacancies, i.e. participation in a competition cannot be interpreted as an offer of another job.
This explanation does not constitute legal aid in a specific case. Therefore, if you feel that you have been treated unequally, but you did not find a solution to your problem in this article, or if you have a question, please contact the Equality Commissioner by e-mail at avaldus@volinik.ee or telephone +372 626 9059. The anonymity of the person is guaranteed when contacting the Commissioner.
