Termination of Employment Policy

Policy brief & purpose

This policy aims to clarify the possible reasons and conditions for voluntary and involuntary contract termination.

Scope

This termination of employment policy applies to all employees of the company in regard to possible termination of employment.

Policy Elements

The Company will observe all legal dictations referring to the termination of employment and will avoid to the best possible extent unnecessary terminations.

What is the termination of employment?

Termination of employment happens when the contract of an employee is discontinued due to their or the Company’s actions. The termination may be categorized as voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary termination may include inter alia the following:

• Resignation, meaning each unilateral termination by the employee, including in case of retirement.

• Expiration or completion of the contract (in case of a fix term contract);

• Termination upon mutual consent.

Depending on the ground for the termination the employee may be obliged to give notice a specified amount of time prior to the date of termination as determined in the law or in the individual employment contract. If the employee will stop working before the expiry of the notice period, the employee will provide the Company compensation for the time remaining, specified as “pay in lieu of notice” (compensation for non-observance of the notice period). Involuntary termination may include inter alia the following:

• Unilateral termination by the employee without disciplinary cause;

• Disciplinary dismissal by the employer for a disciplinary cause.

• Discharge for disciplinary cause refers to the right of the Company to immediately terminate employment due to an employee’s disciplinary guilty misconduct and constitutes a disciplinary sanction within the meaning of the Labour Code.

Examples of such termination of employees include circumstances where an employee:

• Breaches their contract of employment

• Is discovered guilty of fraud, embezzlement or other kinds of illegal actions against the company

• Is guilty of discriminatory behavior or harassment

• Is guilty of unlawful or immoral behavior on the job

• Is guilty of willful neglect of job responsibilities

• Is discovered to have caused intentional damage to the company’s assets

• Continuously disregards company policy

• Reporting for work late, leaving early, being absent from work of failing to utilize working time efficiently

• Abusing the confidence and damaging the reputation of the enterprise, as well as disclosure of data which is confidential in respect of the enterprise

• Other grave breaches of the labor discipline (reference is made also to the Disciplinary procedure policy of the Company).

The list is not exhaustive therefore, discharge for disciplinary cause remains at our Company’s discretion, upon the observance of the rules for the imposition of disciplinary sanctions set forth in the law. It must however always reflect an unacceptable behavior or action that violates legal or Company guidelines or may result in financial and non-financial damages for the company, other employees or society. Discharge without disciplinary cause can occur when for example the Company decides that the services of an employee are no longer needed. Discharge without disciplinary ground does not refer to an employee’s guilty misconduct. Reasons for discharge without disciplinary cause may be layoffs, rearrangement of a department or redefining of a position, closure of the enterprise or part thereof, impossibility of the Company to offer an appropriate work to an employee with certified reduced working ability, where the employee becomes entitled to a pension for social instance length of service and age, where performance of the employment contract is objectively impossible, the employee lacks the capacities for efficient performance of the work or for other reasons explicitly listed in the Labour Code. In some cases, an employee must be terminated without disciplinary cause, the Company is obliged to give notice a specified amount of time prior to the date of termination as determined by the law or in the employment contract. If the employee has to stop working before the expiry of the notice period, the company will still provide compensation for the time remaining, specified as “pay in lieu of notice” (compensation for nonobservance of the notice period). In any case of termination – i.e. irrespective of the termination ground Company should pay the terminated employee compensation for accrued vacation time (compensation for the remaining unused paid annual leave). The Company is bound by the law to refrain from wrongful dismissals of employees. Wrongful dismissal may occur in inter alia cases when:

• An employee is terminated unfairly for cause

• An employee is terminated without an explicitly listed in the law cause.

Procedure

In cases of resignation (unilateral termination by the employee), the employee must submit an official termination notice to the immediate supervisor. On the same date, the termination notice must be copied and submitted by the supervisor to the Human Resources department, where the notice shall be recorded into the Company registers/ books and vested with a remark on the ongoing number and date of submission. In cases of involuntary dismissal, the employee must be provided with written notification by the employer. The Company has to notify the employee of the termination a specified amount of time in advance as determined in the Labour Code or in the employment contract. When certain severance pay (compensation on occasion of the termination) is due, it will be stated in writing in the respective ordinance on termination. For each case of termination, the Company shall issue and deliver to the employee a termination ordinance (beyond the other documents that might be created depending on the ground for the termination). The Company has to fill in relevant data regarding the termination in the employee’s labor booklet and deliver it to the employee in due course upon termination. At all times, proper employee records will be kept containing all relevant documentation. A lawyer will be consulted prior to termination to the Company can ensure the legality of its actions.

Policy Violation

Termination of contract is guaranteed by the Bulgarian Labor Law, therefore there are no reprimands when it's required.