Lawfulness of dismissal: reversal of appellate finding that employer failed to meet substantive and procedural termination requirements.

The Federal Labour Court (BAG) reversed the appeal court’s decision and dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal, upholding the first-instance judgment in favor of the defendant and ordering the plaintiff to bear the litigation costs for the appeal and revision stages. The dispute concerned a challenge to the termination of an employment relationship, where the plaintiff contested the lawfulness of the dismissal following procedural review at the local Labour Court and the Higher Regional Labour Court. The decisive legal basis rests on the principles governing the protection of employees against dismissal, including the assessment of whether the employer met the necessary social, personal, or operational grounds for termination and complied with statutory procedural requirements, with the BAG finding that the lower court’s reversal of the initial dismissal’s validity was legally erroneous.