The seven rules of the certificate of employment

The author works at TEK as an employment lawyer.

A certificate of employment may also be relevant when dealing with unemployment benefit issues, for example. This means that a certificate of employment is often an important document, and the law lays down the rules for it.

1. Is my employer obliged to provide me with a certificate of employment on their own initiative when the employment relationship has ended?

No. The certificate of employment is issued to the employee on their request.

2. What is the difference between a brief and an extended certificate of employment?

As a rule, only the duration of the employment relationship and the nature of the employee’s work duties are included in the certificate (brief certificate of employment). At the specific request of the employee, the certificate shall also include the reason for the end of employment and an assessment of the employee’s working skills and conduct (extended certificate of employment).

The employee may also ask that, in addition to the duration of the employment and the nature of the employee’s work duties, only the reason for the end of employment or only an assessment of the employee’s skills and conduct are included in the certificate.

3. Am I entitled to a certificate of employment even though I was only employed for two weeks?

Yes, you are. There is no minimum duration of employment for receiving a certificate of employment.

4. My work duties are recorded incorrectly on my certificate of employment. Am I entitled to a new certificate of employment? How detailed should the description of work duties be?

The employer is obliged to issue a new, corrected certificate of employment if the employer has entered incorrect information on the certificate or has mentioned matters that the certificate of employment should not contain.

The nature of the work duties is often recorded in general terms, but it can also be recorded in more detail. If the employee has performed several different duties during the employment relationship, the certificate shall include all the significant duties the employee has performed.

5. How should the reason for the end of employment and the assessment of the employee’s skills and conduct be recorded on the certificate of employment?

The reason for the end of employment should be stated briefly. Examples include the employee’s own resignation, financial and production-related reasons, or the termination of a fixed-term contract due to the expiry of the term.

The assessment of the employee’s skills and conduct is the employer’s assessment of these elements, but the assessment must be based on facts.

Not even a court of law can order the employer to issue a certificate of employment with a specific content, but the employer can be ordered to compensate the employee for any damages caused by an incorrect assessment.

Working skills and conduct can be assessed using commonly used evaluation criteria, for example (poor, fair, satisfactory, good and excellent). Other, more free-form expressions can also be used.

6. Is it true that an employer may be obliged to pay a fine if an employee is not given a certificate of employment when they have asked for one?

Yes, it is. The law states that an employer or their representative who, either willfully or through negligence, violates the provisions on the issue of a certificate of employment may be fined for violation of the Employment Contracts Act.

7. My employment ended six years ago, but I have not yet requested a certificate of employment. Am I still entitled to receive a certificate of employment?

An employee is entitled to a certificate of employment if they request one within ten years of the end of the employment relationship. However, if an employee wants an extended certificate of employment, they must request one within five years of the end of the employment relationship.

The law also states that a brief certificate of employment must be issued even if more than 10 years have passed since the end of the employment relationship, but only if this does not cause the employer undue inconvenience.