The lawyer assessed the risks of dismissal for noisy behavior at work

The possibility of firing an employee for laughing loudly in the workplace does not depend on the fact of the noise itself, but on compliance with labor discipline and internal rules of the company. Valentina Yakovleva, a lawyer and labor law expert, told Izvestia about this on February 2.

According to her, the Labor Code of the Russian Federation lacks a direct basis for dismissal for laughing or talking in the workplace. However, the employer may terminate the contract under the article on repeated failure to perform official duties if the employee has previously been disciplined.

"There is no such reason for dismissal as loud laughter in the law. But if an employee was consistently punished for violating discipline, then this may be a reason to break up," Yakovleva explained.

The lawyer noted that the key factor is becoming the employer's local regulations. If they contain requirements for silence, focused work or interaction with clients, and the employee has been familiar with them, but systematically violates them, the employer has the right to apply measures of influence. In this case, noisy behavior may qualify as a violation of discipline.

The concept of "disruption of the workflow" is not directly fixed in the legislation, but it can also be disclosed in the internal documents of the organization. If certain actions are listed there as unacceptable and capable of interfering with work, their commission may serve as grounds for foreclosure.

At the same time, it is important for the employer to prove that the employee's behavior really influenced the work.

"If you imagine a bank branch with a queue where one of the employees starts laughing loudly, some of the visitors may express dissatisfaction, and some may leave the office. In such cases, given the presence of surveillance cameras, objective evidence appears that the employee's behavior negatively affected the employer's work. Accordingly, this may become the basis for disciplinary action," the expert explained.

If we are talking about a conversation and laughter between colleagues shortly before lunch in the accounting department, it will be much more difficult to confirm the damage to the workflow.

Yakovleva added that other violations that are not directly related to professional duties may be a legitimate reason for termination of the contract, if they are fixed in the employer's rules. Among them are bans on eating in the workplace, the use of profanity, as well as the use of company equipment and resources for personal purposes, including computers and the Internet, even outside of working hours.

According to the lawyer, the issue of dismissal for loud laughter is always considered individually and depends on internal regulations, the consequences for work and the employer's compliance with the established disciplinary procedure.

On January 22, experts said that smoke breaks during working hours often become a cause for disputes between employees and employers, but this issue is not directly regulated in labor legislation. It was clarified that if the working day lasts more than four hours, the employee is given a break for rest and meals — not less than 30 minutes and not more than two hours.

On the same day, Alexander Khaminsky, a lawyer and head of the Law Enforcement Center in Moscow and the Moscow Region, said that employees could face disciplinary action for frequent smoke breaks.

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