Employment Litigation & Trial

Legal support and representation in labor disputes

The company’s activities are inextricably linked with personnel records management, hiring and firing employees, and labor disputes are usually inevitable. Disputes with employees can be caused by various issues in the labor sphere, ranging from hiring and calculating wages to termination of an employment contract and illegal dismissal.

It is important to note that labor legislation establishes that everyone has the right to protect their labor rights and freedoms by all means not prohibited by law, while the main methods of protecting labor rights and freedoms are:

1. self-defense of labor rights by employees;
2. protection of labor rights and legitimate interests of employees by trade unions;
3. federal state control (supervision) over compliance with labor legislation and other regulatory legal acts containing labor law standards;
4. legal protection.

Labor disputes are resolved by the labor inspectorate, the prosecutor's office, or in the court. As a general rule, an employee has the right to apply to the court for the resolution of an individual labor dispute within 3 months from the day when he learned or should have learned about the violation of his rights, and for disputes about dismissal – within 1 month from the date of receipt of a copy of the dismissal order or from the date of issuance of the work record book or from the date of provision to the employee in connection with his dismissal of information on his work activity with the employer at the last place of work. In addition, for the resolution of an individual labor dispute about non-payment or incomplete payment of wages and other payments due to the employee, he has the right to apply to the court within 1 year from the date of the established term for payment of the said amounts, including in the case of non-payment or incomplete payment of wages and other payments due to the employee upon dismissal.

At the same time, the employer has the right to apply to the court for disputes about compensation by the employee for damage caused to the employer within 1 year from the date of discovery of the damage caused. The main types of labor disputes include:

1. failure to formalize an employment contract;
2. illegal dismissal;
3. non-payment of wages;
4. disputes over disciplinary sanctions;
5. refusal to grant leave;
6. disputes over financial liability;
7. transfer to another position, etc.

Meanwhile, the parties to labor disputes may be:

1. an employee, an individual who is an employee;
2. an employer, a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur;
3. a labor inspectorate, a government agency that monitors compliance with labor legislation;
4. a trade union, a union representing the interests of employees in labor disputes, protecting their rights, etc.

To resolve labor disputes with the participation of the company’s top management, the organization's management has to use more effort and resources than when resolving labor disputes with other employees.

Legal representation in labor disputes with top management and other key employees

As a rule, company management tries to resolve labor disputes with top management peacefully, without bringing the case to court. However, this is not always possible and some labor disputes with key employees end up in court.

Considering that often, the employment contract of the company’s management contains additional conditions that regulate not only the general provisions of labor relations, but also additional responsibilities and bonus payments, labor disputes, as a rule, move to the plane of establishing compensation upon dismissal of top management.

However, despite the possibility of settling labor disputes out of court, many cases involving top management of companies are considered by the courts. It is important to note that, like any other dispute, a labor dispute requires that the parties to the labor relations know not only the norms of labor law, but also the rules for conducting legal cases.

Often, to resolve a labor dispute with top management and key employees in the courts, business owners and managers resort to the services of qualified lawyers, which allows such representatives to competently assess the labor dispute that has arisen, choose a competent defense strategy and accompany such a dispute in the courts. Often, consideration of such a case requires a thorough study of the issue; it is possible to resolve the dispute out of court. Given the high level of demands from the top management of the company, it is often more profitable for the company to resolve a labor dispute not to bring the case to court and resolve the dispute at the pre-trial settlement stage. Pre-trial settlement of labor disputes with top management and key employees

Pre-trial settlement of labor disputes allows not to transfer the disagreements that have arisen in the field of labor relations to the plane of decision-making by a judicial body and to resolve discrepancies between the company's management and employees without referring the case to court. At the pre-trial stage, as a rule, the conditions are determined under which the termination of the employment contract or the resolution of the labor dispute occurs, without referring the case to the court.

At the pre-trial stage of settling labor disputes, the following methods of resolving labor disputes are most often used:

1. negotiations;
2. mediation;
3. a labor dispute commission.

Often, when considering a labor dispute at the pre-trial stage, the parties try to resolve the dispute peacefully and offer the other party the conditions under which the labor dispute will be exhausted. As a rule, when terminating an employment contract with the top management of the company, the main issue in resolving a labor dispute is the payment of compensation. If this issue was not reflected in the text of the employment contract, the parties have the right to determine the amount of compensation at their own discretion and depending on the financial capabilities of the company. In most cases, the payment of compensation that satisfies both parties to the labor dispute will end the disagreements that have arisen.

It is important to note that the resolution of a labor dispute at the pre-trial stage should not only be resolved, but also documented in order to avoid misunderstandings and possible further claims from the participants in labor relations.

As a rule, the participation of qualified lawyers with experience in resolving labor disputes with various categories of employees allows you to resolve the labor dispute in a short time, take into account the interests of the participants in the labor dispute and often allows you to avoid bringing the case to the courts, among other things, this allows you to resolve the labor dispute with minimal costs.

Legal services

1. Consulting on labor disputes with employees of various levels, including top management
2. Preparation of documents for conducting labor disputes in court
3. Legal assistance in pre-trial settlement of labor disputes
4. Representation of interests in labor disputes with various categories of employees