Firing a single mother: when you can lose your job

Each country has its own special categories.citizens who need additional state protection from unlawful actions by employers. These primarily include women with the status of single mothers. Indeed, they have a hard time, because they need to combine the functions of raising a child, his development and providing him with a decent life. Therefore, it becomes the state's responsibility to protect the fundamental rights of such women in many areas of social life. It is Article 261 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation that clearly regulates the main reasons for which, at the initiative of the employer, it is impossible to officially and without legal violations dismiss a single mother from work if she is raising a child under fourteen years of age or a disabled child under eighteen years of age. There are several of them, and the main ones include the following:

reduction in the number of employees of the enterprise, company or other organization where such a woman works;
her incompatibility with her position;
change of the owner of the enterprise or the company with which the labor activity of a single mother is connected.

However, Article 81 still provides grounds forlegal dismissal of women of this category. In principle, these factors are no different from those that serve as grounds for termination of employment with any negligent employee. Thus, the legal dismissal of a single mother is possible for any of the reasons listed below.

Liquidation of a business entityactivities No firm, company or government organization is insured against large-scale financial losses or other factors that threaten their continued existence. Therefore, if for some reason the activities of an enterprise where a single mother works cease, for example, the company or production has gone bankrupt or their profitability does not satisfy the owners, forcing them to wind up the business, then the employees are fired without their consent. The same can be said about an individual entrepreneur: he, terminating his functions as an entity engaged in any type of activity, can unilaterally terminate labor relations with employees, including single mothers, on legal grounds. All these points are reflected in paragraph 1 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Violation of labor discipline Unscrupulousworkers are among the majority of categories of citizens. And, as a rule, employers who encounter such employees can fire them on their own initiative. Therefore, if a single mother systematically violates the labor discipline prescribed at the enterprise or in the company and has a corresponding penalty plan, then the employer legally terminates the employment relationship with her. This is reflected in paragraph 5 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Unfair attitude towards entrusted personsmaterial (monetary or commodity) values Financially responsible persons should pay maximum attention to their duties. Gross violations of labor discipline are absolutely unacceptable for them. After all, these people are responsible for the company's monetary and commodity values, and by their negligence they can seriously undermine the trust of management in themselves and lose their jobs on completely legal grounds. In such cases, there are no exceptions for single mothers. This is discussed in detail in paragraphs 6, 7 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Absenteeism If a single mother allowed herselfabsent from work for a whole day or shift, regardless of their duration, without a valid reason, she may be fired for absenteeism. The same applies to the case if the employee did not show up at her place for more than four hours during the shift or workday and did not provide documents justifying her absence. Although single mothers have to leave work in some cases to solve urgent problems, because there is no one else to do this, but you should not abuse the patience of the management. You can read more in paragraph 6 of Article No. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Being present at the workplace in a state of,caused by the use of alcohol, drugs or toxic substances Indeed, such behavior should be punished by dismissal, since such an employee poses a threat not only to himself. After all, other people may suffer through his fault if the work is related, for example, to motor transport or another area that provides for responsibility for human lives. Therefore, the fact that single mothers in this case are subject to the same sanctions as all other employees cannot cause a negative reaction. This is discussed in more detail in paragraph 6 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Disclosure of a secret protected by law We are talking aboutabout cases when, due to production needs, an employee with the status of a single mother becomes aware of commercial, official, state or other information of a secret nature, which she has no right to make public. Usually, the employee is notified of this in writing and a corresponding receipt is taken. There is also a ban on the disclosure of personal data of other workers and employees. More details can be found in paragraph 6 of Article No. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Theft, embezzlement or destruction of propertyTheft of someone else's property committed at the place of work, both in small and large amounts, is a legal basis for the culprit to be fired on legal grounds, even if it is a single mother. The same applies to embezzlement and intentional damage or destruction of any commodity and monetary assets of the enterprise or another employee, if such a fact is recognized as a crime or administrative offense by the relevant authorities. This is reflected in the same paragraph No. 6 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Disregard for security ruleslabor If a female employee of a company violated labor safety requirements and this caused an accident, incident, disaster at work or a real threat of such events arose, then all those guilty, even single mothers, are fired at the initiative of the employer. However, such punishment is legal only if there is a corresponding act on violations from the commission or the authorized representative for labor protection. More details can be found in paragraph 6 of the same Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Immoral Misconduct If the work of a single motheris related to the performance of educational functions (teacher, school principal, head teacher, assistant teacher, etc.) and at the same time she committed an act that contradicts the rules for treating children and basic moral standards, then she can be fired for this at the initiative of the management. Since the essence of such an offense really does not provide grounds and opportunities for continuing work, then there is only one way out - termination of employment. More information about this can be found in paragraph 6 of Article 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Employment with forged documents Sometimespeople need a job so much or want to take an important position that they try to achieve it by any means. And they often deliberately falsify documents, for example, a health certificate or a diploma. It happens that such cases are never disclosed by anyone and remain only on the conscience of the employee himself. But often the information that important documents are fictitious still comes to light, and then the employer is simply obliged to terminate the employment relationship with such an employee. And the status of a single mother will not help here. More details on this can be found in paragraph 11 of Article No. 81 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

Expiry of the employment contract Single mothercan be fired legally if the term during which her employment agreement with the employer was valid has expired and he does not want to renew it. Indeed, this happens quite often, but it is legal, because the person knew in advance for what period of time he was provided with work. Therefore, he can get his bearings and find another place in time. This is discussed in detail in Article 79 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

There are a few more points that givethe employer's ability to terminate employment with a woman in the status of a single mother, for example, her inability to perform her duties due to health reasons (clause 8 of Article 77 of the Labor Code) or refusal to change the essential terms of the employment agreement (clause 7 of Article 77 of the Labor Code). These reasons are also common to all employees. To summarize, it should be noted that the Labor Code itself was written in order to maintain a balance between the interests of employees and employers. And in order to properly comply with the laws of the country, they should first of all be well studied. This applies to both us, employees, and those who provide us with jobs. But it often happens that it is precisely the vulnerable categories of citizens, for example, single mothers, who are simply forced to be well versed in their rights in order to avoid illegal actions by unscrupulous employers. And this, as a rule, is never superfluous. We recommend reading: