Estonia

A working relationship can be terminated in cases of gross employee misconduct, willful employee resignation, or a winding down of the relationship as prescribed in the employment contract.

Depending on the duration an employee has worked with an employer, the latter should provide written notice to the employee well in advance of termination of the working relationship.

• Less than 1 year of employment: at least 15 calendar days

• 1 t0 5 years of employment: at least 30 calendar days

• 5 to 10 years of service: at least 60 calendar days

• 10 or more years of service: at least 90 calendar days

If a redundant employee is terminated, the employer should pay the average of the previous six months’ salary as severance pay.

Fixed-term employees are entitled to the wages for the remainder of the contract’s term if they’re terminated.

The situations where severance pay is triggered are outlined in Estonian employment legislation as follows:

• Where the termination is due to redundancy, the employee is entitled to six months of salary

• Employees who have been employed for five to 10 years are entitled to one additional month of gross salary

• Employees who have been employed for 10 years or more are entitled to two additional months of gross salary

• Employees with fixed term contracts that were terminated due to redundancy are entitled to the wages that they would have received until the date of termination of the contract

Probation periods can last up to four months but cannot exceed half of the term of an employment contract. That is, if an employment contract lasts for three months, the probation period cannot exceed six weeks.

An employer should provide notice at least 15 days before terminating a contract that’s still in the probation stage.