As a rule, an employee may pursue their rights before a common court or a conciliation commission. In the event of initiating proceedings before a conciliation commission, legal recourse becomes temporarily inadmissible. However, if no settlement is reached before the conciliation commission, or the employee wishes to consider the concluded agreement ineffective or withdraws the application for proceedings before a conciliation commission, they may pursue their cases before a common court.
According to the Code of Civil Procedure, labor law cases are civil cases and it is on the basis of the provisions of civil procedure that labor law cases are conducted. However, civil procedure provides for certain differences, based on the assumption – like labor law itself – that the employee is in a weaker factual position than the employer.
And so, in labor law cases, the claim may be filed orally for the record in the competent court. This means that the employee does not have to prepare a written claim to pursue their rights. A similar distinction is made with regard to appeals or other procedural documents. The condition is that the employee acts without an attorney or legal adviser. It should be mentioned that in labor law cases, the provisions limiting the admissibility of evidence from witnesses and the examination of the parties are excluded.
Furthermore, in labor law cases, the parties are not fully competent to dispose of the subject of the proceedings. The court may consider the conclusion of a settlement, withdrawal of a claim, objection or appeal, and waiver or limitation of a claim as inadmissible if these actions would violate the employee’s legitimate interest.
Importantly, judgments awarding benefits to the employee are to be (with certain restrictions) ex officio provided with the rigor of immediate enforceability.
To sum up, although the distinctions discussed above only partially exhaust the subject, they show that the principles of labor law, of which the principle of employee protection is the most important, are also reflected in procedural law. However, for these principles to be fully implemented, it is necessary to conduct the proceedings efficiently. In the event of delays, the protection of the economically weaker party – the employee – becomes only theoretical.