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Employees Disciplinary Liability Act

Passed 05.05.1993
RT 1993, 26, 441
Entry into force 01.09.1993

Amended by the following legal instruments (show)

Chapter 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS 

§ 1.  Scope of application of Act

  This Act shall be applied in the cases prescribed by law, taking account of the specifications provided therein. This Act shall not apply to contractual employment relationships.
[RT I, 06.07.2012, 1 - entry into force 01.04.2013]

§ 2. – § 5. [Repealed – RT I 2009, 5, 35 – entry into force 01.07.2009]

Chapter 2 IMPOSITION, EXPIRY AND CANCELLATION OF DISCIPLINARY PENALTY 

§ 6.  Time limit for imposing disciplinary penalty

 (1) A disciplinary penalty may be imposed within six months from the date on which an offence is committed, but not later than one month from the date on which any person to whom the offender reports becomes aware of the offence.

 (2) A disciplinary penalty for an offence proved by the findings of an inventory, review, audit, etc., may be imposed within one year from the date on which an offence is committed, but not later than one month from the date on which the findings of the inventory, review, audit, etc. are formalised.

 (3) The one month time limit prescribed in subsections 1 and 2 of this section shall not include the period during which an employment contract is suspended pursuant to clauses 1–6, 9, 11 and 12 of § 55 of the Employment Contracts Act, except the period of days off and public holidays.

§ 7.  Demand for explanation

 (1) An employer shall have the right to demand a written explanation concerning an offence from the offender. Refusal to provide an explanation or presentation of false information in the explanation shall not be an independent basis for imposition of a disciplinary penalty.

 (2) An employer shall have the right to demand a written explanation concerning an offence from an employee who witnessed the offence, and the witness is required to provide such explanation. A disciplinary penalty may be imposed on a witness for refusal to provide an explanation or for knowingly presenting false information in the explanation. Disciplinary penalty for refusal to provide an explanation shall not be imposed on an employee who is a close relative (parent, brother, sister or child) or a relative by marriage (spouse, registered partner, parent, brother, sister or child of spouse or registered partner) of the employee for whose act an explanation was demanded.
[RT I, 06.07.2023, 6 – entry into force 01.01.2024]

 (3) If an offence is proved by other evidence, a disciplinary penalty may be imposed without demanding an explanation.

§ 8.  Choice of disciplinary penalty

 (1) A disciplinary penalty shall not be in apparent conflict with the gravity of the offence, the circumstances of its commission or the prior conduct of the employee.

 (2) Upon choosing a disciplinary penalty, an employer shall not be bound by the order of the penalties set out in § 3 of this Act.

§ 9.  Prohibition on imposition of several disciplinary penalties for one offence

 (1) Only one disciplinary penalty may be imposed for each offence.

 (2) Continuation of an offence after imposition of a disciplinary penalty is a new offence and a disciplinary penalty may be imposed on the employee therefor.

§ 10.  Compatibility of disciplinary penalty with administrative, criminal or proprietary liability

  The bringing of administrative, criminal or proprietary charges against an employee shall not prevent the imposition of a disciplinary penalty for the same act.

§ 11.  Formalisation of disciplinary penalty

 (1) An employer is required to prepare a document by which he or she shall formalise a disciplinary penalty in at least two copies. One copy shall be retained by the employer and the other shall be given to the employee by the employer.

 (2) An employer is required to enter at least the following information in the document by which the employer shall formalise the disciplinary penalty:
 1) the name of the employee to be punished;
 2) the time of commission of the offence;
 3) a description of the offence and other circumstances taken into account upon punishment;
 4) the imposed penalty and, in the case of a fine, the amount in euros and cents thereof, and the fine deducted from each payment of wages expressed as a percentage;
[RT I 2010, 22, 108 - entry into force 01.01.2011]
 5) the date on which the document is prepared;
 6) the name and signature of the person imposing the penalty.

§ 12.  Imposition date of disciplinary penalty

 (1) A disciplinary penalty shall be imposed from the date on which the employee signs the document by which the employer has formalised the penalty. If the employee has not indicated the date of signing the document, the penalty shall be deemed to be imposed from the date on which the document was prepared.

 (2) If an employee to be punished refuses to sign an acknowledgement of receipt of the document by which the employer has formalised his or her penalty, the employer may, in the presence of the employee, have witnesses sign the document. In such case, the penalty shall be imposed from the date on which the witnesses sign the document.

 (3) The termination of the employment contract of an employee who is absent from work without authorisation shall be deemed to be imposed from the date following the date on which the employee left work without authorisation.

§ 13.  Expiry of disciplinary penalty

  A disciplinary penalty shall expire if no new disciplinary penalty is imposed on the employee within one year from the date on which the penalty was imposed.

§ 14.  Cancellation of disciplinary penalty before prescribed time

 (1) An employer may cancel a disciplinary penalty before the prescribed time.

 (2) An employer shall formalise the cancellation of a disciplinary penalty before the prescribed time in writing.

§ 15.  Prohibition on reference to expired disciplinary penalty or disciplinary penalty cancelled before prescribed time

  Upon imposing a disciplinary penalty on an employee or providing references for an employee, an employer shall not refer to any expired disciplinary penalty or disciplinary penalty cancelled before the prescribed time.

§ 16.  [Repealed – RT I 2009, 5, 35 – entry into force 01.07.2009]

Chapter 3 FINES, SUSPENSION FROM WORK WITHOUT PAY AND TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT 

§ 17.  Fines

 (1) An employer shall have the right to impose fines which do not exceed ten times the average daily wages of the employee. The sum of fines imposed in a calendar year shall not exceed twenty times the average daily wages of the employee.

 (2) An employer shall deposit fines, in addition to the social tax, into the state budget revenue after paying wages to the employee. The procedure for the deposit of fines into the state budget revenue shall be established by the Government of the Republic.

 (3) A fine shall be calculated based on the average daily wages which, pursuant to the Employment Contracts Act, shall be payable upon termination of an employment contract for each working day for which advance notice was not given.

 (4) An employer shall deduct the fine from the wages of an employee such that the sum of all deductions shall not exceed 50 per cent of the wages payable to the employee upon each payment of wages.

 (5) The deduction of a fine shall commence not later than from the second payment of wages to an employee after the imposition of a penalty. Deductions shall be continued from each following payment of wages until the fine is deducted in full but not for longer than three months from the first deduction. If deductions are not commenced in a timely manner, the employee shall be deemed not to be punished and no disciplinary penalty may be imposed on him or her for the same offence. If the deduction of a fine is interrupted, the employee shall be deemed to be punished by way of a disciplinary penalty and the fine may no longer be deducted from his or her wages. If an employer stops making deductions from the wages of an employee before the prescribed time, the employee shall be deemed to be punished by way of a disciplinary penalty.

 (6) A fine shall not be deducted from the final settlement or from wages not received due to death.
[RT I 2000, 102, 674 - entry into force 01.01.2001]

§ 18.  Deduction of fine from pregnant woman

 (1) A female employee shall retain at least 70 per cent of the wages payable to her after the deduction of the fine if the employer has a document certifying that the employee is pregnant.

 (2) If an employer receives a document certifying an employee’s pregnancy after a penalty is imposed, subsection 1 of this section shall be applied from the date of receipt of such document. Amounts already deducted may be refunded or settled by the employer.

§ 19.  Suspension from work without pay

 (1) An employer shall have the right to impose suspension of an employee from work without pay for no longer than ten consecutive scheduled working days. This penalty may be imposed on an employee not more than three times in a calendar year for not more than twenty calendar days in total.

 (2) A period of suspension from work without pay shall commence on the scheduled working day immediately following the date on which the penalty is imposed.

 (3) Suspension from work without pay shall be suspended for the period during which an employment contract is suspended pursuant to clauses 1–9 and 11–12 of § 55 of the Employment Contracts Act. In such case, serving of the penalty shall commence or continue from the date on which the employee should have commenced work after the suspension of the contract. If, by that time, more than five months have passed from the date of imposition of the penalty, the penalty shall not be enforced.

 (4) If suspension from work without pay has not commenced by the date prescribed in subsection 2 or 3 of this section, the employee shall be deemed not to be punished. In such case a disciplinary penalty may no longer be imposed on the employee for the same offence.

 (5) An employer shall have the right to terminate the suspension from work without pay before the prescribed time and to call the punished employee back to work. An employee whose disciplinary penalty was cancelled before the prescribed time shall be deemed to be punished by way of a disciplinary penalty.

 (6) Upon termination of the penalty, the employer is required to permit the employee to work and the employee is required to commence work.

§ 20.  Prohibition on imposition of suspension from work without pay

 (1) Suspension from work without pay shall not be imposed on an employee with regard to whom the employer has a document certifying that the employee is:
 1) pregnant or the mother of a disabled child or a child under three years of age;
 2) raising either a disabled child or a child under three years of age without a mother;
 3) the guardian or a curator of a disabled child;
 4) required to pay compensation ordered for causing health damage to or the death of a provider.

 (2) If, after the imposition of a penalty, an employer receives a document certifying the circumstances specified in subsection 1 of this section, the employer shall not commence the enforcement of the penalty or shall cease the enforcement thereof on the scheduled working day immediately following the date on which the corresponding document was submitted. In such case, the employer is required to substitute the penalty with a reprimand or, in accordance with §§ 17 and 18 of this Act, with a fine in compliance with the procedure for formalisation and notification of the penalty upon substitution of the penalty. Upon substitution with a fine, the served part of the penalty shall be taken into account such that one working day of suspension from work without pay shall equal the fine to the extent of one day’s wages. If the penalty was not substituted before the commencement of its enforcement, the employee shall be deemed not to be punished. In such case, the disciplinary penalty may no longer be imposed on the employee for the same offence.

 (3) [Repealed – RT I 2009, 5, 35 – entry into force 01.07.2009]

§ 21.  [Repealed – RT I 2009, 5, 35 – entry into force 01.07.2009]

§ 22.  Appeal and enforcement of disciplinary penalty

  Lodging an appeal against the imposition of a fine, suspension from work without pay or termination of an employment contract shall not hinder the enforcement of the penalty

Chapter 4 IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS 

§ 23.  Hearing of disputes

 (1) An employee on whom a disciplinary penalty is imposed shall have the right of recourse to a court within one month from the date following the date on which he or she becomes or should have become aware of the imposition of the penalty.

 (2) A court shall annul an imposed disciplinary penalty if an employee has been unlawfully punished, among other, the penalty is in apparent conflict with the gravity of the offence, the circumstances of its commission and the prior conduct of the employee. If termination of the employment contract has been imposed on an employee as a disciplinary penalty, the court shall also be guided by § 144 of the Employment Contracts Act.

§ 24.  Disciplinary penalty imposed prior to entry into force of this Act

 (1) A disciplinary penalty imposed prior to the entry into force of this Act shall remain in force after the entry into force of this Act. Such penalty shall become invalid pursuant to §§ 13 and 14 of this Act.

 (2) An employee may contest the disciplinary penalty imposed prior to the entry into force of this Act in a court pursuant to subsection 1 of § 23 of this Act if no effective court order concerning the same dispute exists. The court shall be guided by subsection 2 of § 23 of this Act in hearing the dispute.

§ 25.  Imposition of disciplinary penalty for offence committed prior to entry into force of this Act

 (1) An employer may impose a disciplinary penalty prescribed by this Act for an offence committed prior to the entry into force of this Act if no disciplinary penalty was imposed on the employee earlier for the same offence.

 (2) A fine or suspension from work without pay shall not be imposed for an offence committed prior to the entry into force of this Act.

§ 26. – § 27. [Omitted from this text.]

§ 28.  Establishment of procedure for deposit of fines in social fund

  The Government of the Republic shall establish the procedure for deposit of fines imposed pursuant to clause 2 of § 3 of this Act in the social fund.

§ 29.  Entry into force of Act

  This Act enters into force on 1 September 1993.