1E9Ct5D

An apprenticeship may be terminated by consent which must be in writing. If theapprentice is under age, i.e. younger than 18, mutual termination is subject to theconsent of his or her guardian.Unilateral termination by either party must be in writing and only for the reasons statedin the Act.Invalids and Victims of Political PersecutionSuch employees may only be given notice upon receiving the consent of the InvalidsCommittee, an administrative department of the provincial Disabled Persons’ Office,after a hearing has taken place.A notification of termination to any of the above in breach of the rules concerningtermination will be deemed ineffective and the employment contract will continue toapply.fOlder EmployeesOlder employees who have been employed by the same employer for at least sixmonths can appeal against their termination at the Labour Courts within one week oftermination – even if no workers’ council has been established – based on violation ofsocial justice. In cases where the employer first hired the employee when the employeewas above 50 years of age, two years of service are required.gFactors Relating to TerminationFactors such as salary, seniority and age, except for those factors listed above, do nothave any effect on termination.hMandatory LawsThe laws on termination of employment may be varied to a certain extent by collectiveagreements and the employment agreement itself. The limitations are as follows:(i) The period of notice given must not be less than the minimum statutory periods.(ii) The period as given by the employer may never be shorter than the period to begiven by the employee.(iii) An employee in general cannot effectively contract out of his statutory entitlementsupon termination.iiTermination Without NoticeaWhere PermittedAn employment contract may be terminated without notice only for an importantreason.Termination by EmployerAn important reason sufficient to justify instant dismissal of an employee is if thatemployee has caused serious detriment to the employer’s interests.What amounts to behaviour considered a good reason for termination will depend onwhether the employee is a manual worker (‘Arbeiter’) or a salaried or non-manualemployee (‘Angestellter’).Manual worker:According to the Business Code (Gewerbeordnung) a manual worker can bedismissed immediately if he/she- 50 -