There are many reasons a company or organization may decide to liquidate. Some liquidations are compulsory, in which case the process occurs as the result of a court order. Other liquidations are voluntary, in which case the people running the organization decide to cease operations. Either way there are formal steps in which you should closely follow. One of one of the key aspects of any company liquidation is termination of employment. Here is a quick guide to termination of employment in process of company liquidation in Mongolia.
When terminating employees’ contracts, the employer must perform certain steps:
- formalize the termination of employment;
- complete all necessary payments to employees;
- complete the handover of work and duties by employees, if necessary provide employees with letter of reference;
- make corresponding entries to health and social insurance books, handover books to employees.
When liquidation process is formally initiated this establishes clear legal ground by which a company or organization may lawfully lay off employees. In compliance with Labor law of Mongolia, firstly, the employer must give notice of termination of all employees due to liquidation of the company to the employees’ representatives at least 45 days prior to the employment termination date. Once employees have been notified, the employer is required to issue a formal decision of employment termination and provide it to each terminated employee. This is the formalization of termination of employment. In such decision employer must specify the grounds for termination of employment, dismissal date, time period for employees to handover work and duties and complete all outstanding payments (salary, holiday payment, health and social security payments, etc.), amount of severance pay. In the case where employees’ contracts are terminated upon liquidation of a company or organization, employer needs to pay severance pay in an amount equal to at least the employee’s average salary for one month. The amount of severance pay may be negotiated between employer and employees’ representatives prior to issuing a decision, and typically this negotiation is required in any Mongolian company liquidation.
However, just because liquidation is underway, this doesn’t suggest that all employee contracts should be terminated immediately. In fact, it is often the case and preferred that some employees are kept on to help and support the liquidation process. For example, accountants may contribute by managing the liquidation balance sheet, to ensure the payment to all creditors, assist with final tax inspections, and other proceedings. Therefore it would make sense to keep such employees to support the liquidation process instead of terminating them immediately.