Kazakhstan: Certain Aspects Of Employment Termination By The Employer

Termination of the employment contract by the employer is expressly regulated by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Grounds for employment termination by the employer.

The Labor Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan ("the Labor Code") provides for nearly 30 grounds for termination of an employment contract by the employer, which, for the purposes of this article, we  have divided into the following main groups:

• termination due to reasons beyond the employee's control, such as

Reduced production that worsened the employer's economic status; and

• termination due to reasons within the power of the employee

The latter group, in its turn, may be further classified as follows:

a) grounds related to inaptitude of the employee's skill set to the job position held;

b) reasons related to the health condition of the employee;

c) grounds related to the violation of the laws, labor regulations and employment duties by the employee;

d) other reasons (e.g., the employee refusing to continue the employment, etc.).

Due process for employment termination by the employer.

Employment termination is generally governed by the employment contract and the collective bargaining agreement (if available). At the same time, the Labor Code sets out the following statutory due process for employment termination by an employer.

1. In the event of liquidation/winding up of the company or staff reduction, the employer must notify an employee of the employment termination at least 1 month in advance.

2. In the event of reduced production and decreased volume of rendered services/works that resulted in deterioration of the company's economic status, the employer must notify an employee of employment termination at least 15 working days in advance. By mutual agreement of the parties this timeline may be replaced by the payment of salary for the unfinished term. Under this ground all of the following conditions must be met.

• shut down of the structural unit (workshop, section);
• assignment of the employee to another job position is not possible;
• at least 1 month advance written notification of employees' representatives specifying the reasons for termination.

3. In some instances, depending on the ground, employment termination requires certain documents as follows:

• resolution of the attestation commission in case of inaptitude of the employees' skills set to the job position held;
• resolution of the examination committee in case of repeated test failure by the employee on labor safety and security or industrial safety issues;
• medical reports in case of inaptitude of the employee to the position held due to health problems; or in case of alcoholic, narcotic, psychotropic or toxic intoxication (or their analogues) of the employee at work, etc.

4. Also due process is required for imposing a disciplinary sanction in case of employment termination due to violation of the laws, labor regulations and employment duties by the employee (such as breach of safety requirements, contemptuous disregard of work, misconduct, etc.).

5. In case of employment termination with a seasonal employee, the employer must give the employee 7 calendar days prior notification of employment termination.

In addition to the foregoing, the Labor Code sets restrictions on employment termination with certain employees.

In particular, the law prohibits employment termination with the following employees:

• those in annual leave or during temporary incapacity;
• pregnant women (with a pregnancy term of more than 12 weeks);
• women who have children under the age of 3;
• a single mother raising a child under the age of 14 (or a disabled child under the age 18), or other persons raising such children without a mother;
• those taking part in a collective labor dispute or strike (save for cases when an employee continues to participate in an illegal strike);
• those who are about to reach retirement age in less than 2 years (in certain cases as set out in the Labor Code).

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.