The Labor Law, in Article 84, stipulates that the employer may impose a monetary fine on the employee depending on the degree of responsibility of the employee, the conditions under which the violation of work obligations and work order and discipline was committed, the employee’s previous work and behavior, the severity of the violation and its consequences.
Imposing a monetary fine on an employee is a disciplinary measure that can be applied by the employer in cases where the employee has violated his work obligations or rules of work order and discipline.
In order to impose a monetary fine, the employer must have clearly defined the rules of work order and discipline and make them available to the employee. This means that the employee must be familiar with his obligations under the employment relationship, and the employer must provide him with all the necessary means to fulfill them.
Although the Labor Law and Collective Agreements do not regulate the procedure by which the employer can impose such a disciplinary measure, practice shows that in order to impose this measure on the employee, the employer should conduct a disciplinary procedure, in which the employee will be given the opportunity to express his/her opinion regarding the violations that are attributed to him/her, and hence the employer will be able to correctly determine in a transparent procedure the degree of responsibility of the employee, the conditions under which the violation of work obligations and work order and discipline was committed, as well as the severity of the violation and its consequences.
According to the Law, the employer has the discretionary right to determine whether to impose a monetary fine on the employee, which cannot exceed 15% of the employee’s last paid monthly net salary. The duration of the monetary fine can be from one to six months, depending on the type and degree of the violation committed by the employee.
If the employer decides to impose such a disciplinary measure on the employee, the decision to impose a monetary fine must be made in writing, which will clearly state the grounds and reason for imposing the monetary fine, as well as legal advice for the employee to protect his rights by specifying the deadline by which he may submit an objection to the employer.
The employee has the right to legal protection first in a procedure before the employer, if he believes that with the decision to impose a monetary fine the employer has violated any of the employee’s rights arising from the employment relationship.
If the employee believes that the employer is not fulfilling its obligations or has violated his rights from the employment relationship, he has the right to submit a written request to the employer to eliminate the violation. If the employer does not fulfill its obligations within eight days after receiving the written request, the employee has the right to file a lawsuit before the competent court within 15 days.
If the employee files a complaint with the employer and is not satisfied with the employer’s decision or no decision has been made on the complaint within eight days, the employee has the right to file a dispute before the competent court within 15 days from the date of receipt of the decision on the complaint.
In this way, the Law provides and guarantees legal protection of the employee’s rights at every moment.