Employers must make the decision to terminate an employee’s employment contract under the procedure of termination for cause within one month after learning of the circumstances justifying such a decision.

When calculating this deadline, the Supreme Court’s case law takes into account the fact of conducting an internal investigation procedure. 

The Supreme Court explains that the one-month deadline should start not from when an employer obtains any information whatsoever about an employee’s reprehensible conduct, but from when it establishes the most important circumstances surrounding such conduct, including the level of fault and the consequences suffered by the employer. After learning of an employee’s improper conduct, an employer should launch an internal investigation procedure.

This procedure should be conducted promptly. The one-month deadline specified in Article 52 of the Labor Code should be calculated starting from the conclusion of the procedure. 

Efficiently conducting an internal investigation procedure increases the probability of the employer being able to prove during litigation with the terminated employee that the prerequisites have been met for termination for cause.
 

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