The Supreme Court upheld the legality of the dismissal of a psychologist due to staff reductions.

The Supreme Court has put an end to the labor dispute of a practical psychologist from a Chernihiv polyclinic who appealed his dismissal due to staff reduction. The Civil Court of Cassation dismissed his complaint and confirmed that the employer acted within the law.

The plaintiff demanded that the dismissal order be declared illegal, that he be reinstated, that he be paid compensation for forced absenteeism, as well as to establish the fact of mobbing and compensate for moral damage. He claimed that the polyclinic management put pressure on him, and that the reduction procedure was carried out with violations.

However, the courts established that the employee was warned in advance about the upcoming dismissal – more than two months before the dismissal, and that the reduction in position was real and confirmed by changes to the staffing list.

The key issue in the case was the issue of the preemptive right to remain at work. The employer compared two employees in similar positions and concluded that the other psychologist had a higher qualification category and almost twice as much work experience in the specialty.

The Supreme Court emphasized that when considering such disputes, the courts do not assess the appropriateness of the reduction, but only check the legality of the procedure. If the employer complied with the requirements of labor legislation, there are no grounds for reinstating the employee.

The court also rejected the arguments about dismissal during vacation and about allegedly available vacant positions that could have been offered to the plaintiff.

Thus, the decisions of the Novozavodskyi District Court of Chernihiv and the Chernihiv Court of Appeal remained unchanged, and the Supreme Court’s resolution in case No. 751/3322/23 entered into force and is final.