Regulations set a one-month notice period for disciplinary dismissal of an employee. However the way this notice period is calculated is not always obvious. That is the case, for example, when the information about the employee’s misconduct reaches the employer with a delay or when the internal investigation procedure lasts longer than one month. 

Does that mean that in such cases the employer cannot terminate the employment contract with the employee?

Clarification of the circumstances of disciplinary dismissal
 

Disciplinary termination of an employment contract requires the employee’s misconduct. It often happens that the employer only has suspicions regarding the employee’s behaviour but does not have evidence. So they carry out an internal investigation procedure, which may last longer than a month. 

In such situations the notice period runs from the moment of the employer obtains reliable, sufficiently investigated information. What counts is the time of obtaining the data required to make the decision (e.g. collecting unambiguous evidence) as to whether the employee has breached his/her duties or not.

Absence of the person acting on behalf of the employer
 

If the person authorized to take labour law actions is absent and no substitute has been appointed, the employment contract termination notice period runs anyway. For the employer is responsible for ensuring appropriate representation, also in the absence of the decision maker. 

Failure to convey information about the employee’s breach
 

The period for termination of the contract without notice will not start to run if the manager knows about the breach but does not convey this information to the employer, unless the manager is authorized to decide about employee matters. 

For it is the decision maker that needs to be aware of the employee’s breach. 

Recurring breaches
 

If an employee commits the same, recurring misconduct, the disciplinary dismissal notice period starts to run only after the last of such events. In such case we speak about permanent breaching of employee duties.

More in the article by attorney-at-law Iwona Jaroszewska-Ignatowska and advocate Natalia Basista “One month for disciplinary dismissal is sometimes too short” for the Rzeczpospolita daily (article from 8 October 2020).