Lawyer Hristo Vasilev and his team achieved new success in the protection of the interests of our clients. They successfully completed an important case before the Supreme Court of Cassation of Bulgaria. On behalf of a client, the team successfully won a complex case in proceedings before a third/cassation instance (Supreme Court of Cassation of Bulgaria).
Hristo Vassilev’s Law Office
Lawyer Hristo Vasilev is a leading lawyer in the field of labor law. More about his law office, can be found here.
About the case…
So what was the case about?
The claim
The claimant, a client of the law firm, submitted claims with legal grounds art. 344, para 1, item 1, item 2 and item 3 of the Labor Code (LC) for cancellation of the termination of the employment relationship on the grounds of art. 325, para 1, item .9 of the Labor Code (LC), for recovery of the previously held position, for payment of compensation for the loss of employment as a result of the illegal dismissal before the Sofia District Court.
The claim referred to the cancellation of illegal termination of employment under Article 325, item 9 of the Labor Code. The lawyers from the law firm told us that this hypothesis usually consists of three elements that must exist cumulatively, namely:
“The first is the inability of the employee to perform the work assigned to him/her due to illness, which lead to permanently reduced working capacity or to health contraindications. The second element is a conclusion of the Territorial expert medical commission (TEMC) or National Expert Medical Commission (NEMC), which contains the disease or the relevant health indications and it is explicitly stated that this condition makes it impossible for the employee to perform a specific job under the employment contract. The third element is the lack of other suitable work for the employee in the company.”
At the very beginning of the case, attorney Vasilev stated the absence of the third element. He expressed this lack in the claim. In the case, the employer unilaterally decided that the vacancies were not suitable for the employee (the client of lawyer Vasilev), without informing her what are these positions. The dispute had to be resolved by a health commission. However, the employee was deprived of the right to dispute this.
Decision of the Sofia District Court
In its decision, the Court of first instance, without even having the necessary special knowledge and without appointing an official expertise, accepted the employer’s assessment. The court confirmed that the dismissal was legal. The team of lawyer Vasilev were of the opposite opinion. They appealed the court’s decision.
Decision of the Sofia City Court
These arguments were shared by the appellate court in its decision. However, convinced of the legal right of his client, lawyer Vasilev and his team continued to protect the interests of their client before the cassation (last) instance.
Appeal before the Supreme Court of Cassation
After a precisely prepared cassation appeal, the Supreme Court of Cassation allowed the appeal for consideration. The court scheduled the case. After hearing the defense of lawyer Vasilev, the court announced the case for decision
JUSTICE
The justice has been restored by the Judges of the Supreme Court of Cassation. In its decision, the Supreme Court of Cassation fully shared the arguments of lawyer Vasilev and CANCELED the decision of the Sofia City Court, which confirmed the decision of the Sofia District Court. Instead, the Supreme Court of Cassation announced the dismissal of lawyer Vasilev’s client for illegal. The Supreme Court recovered the illegally fired employee on work. Along with this, the Supreme Court SENTENCED the employer to pay to lawyer Vasilev’s client compensation for illegal dismissal as well as legal interest.
You can read the full court decision HERE. You can also find additional information about the case in Bulgarian HERE.