Sometimes there are situations in the companies when the employee who is on leave should be recalled from it to resolve urgent business issues. How it should be done?
It should be remembered that an employer in his/her discretion cannot always recall an employee from the leave. This is possible only with the consent of the employee and only in particular cases. In particular, the law defines the following conditions for the recalling from the leave:
- in order to prevent a natural disaster, industrial accident or immediate elimination of their consequences;
- in order to prevent accidents, downtimes;
- in order to prevent destruction or damage of the property of company, institution or organization;
- in other cases provided by the law (for example, in accordance with sec. 4 of Art. 20 of the Law of Ukraine “On civil service” of 16.12.1993, № 3723-XII the state employees could be recalled from the annual or additional leave by decision of the head).
At the same time, the employer is not entitled to punish the employee for refusing to interrupt his/her leave, and this is not a violation of the labor legislation.
The recalling of an employee from the leave with his/her consent and in some other cases is provided for only in the case of annual leave. Therefore, if the employee is on additional leave for children, the recalling from such a leave is not provided for by the law.
So, in order to recall an employee from the leave, it is necessary to get his/her consent to it. The procedures as well as the form of the consent are not approved by the normative documents. Therefore, it could be a written statement of the employee or his/her verbal consent, which will be confirmed by the signature in the order of the recalling from leave.
It is required to mention the basis for the recalling in the order, and the period for which the employee is recalled, - for several days, a week, and an indefinite period or until the reasons, he/she was recalled from leave, to be removed.
In case of the recalling, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of sec. 6 of Art. 79 of the Labour Code and sec. 1 of Art. 12 of the Law of Ukraine “On leave” of 15.11.1996, № 504/96-ВР concerning the duration of the principal continuous part of the leave not less than 14 calendar days.
