Ar bankrutavusi įmonė turi pareigą atlyginti jos darbuotojų sukeltą žalą?
Savičius, Edgaras |
Magistro darbe yra nagrinėjama gana retai iškylanti problema, susijusi su žalos atlyginimu. Po 2015 m. spalio 26 d. Lietuvos Aukščiausiojo Teismo nutarties, buvo pirma kartą įtvirtinta tiesioginės darbuotojo atsakomybės galimybė, kai subjektas, įstatymiškai atsakingas už žalos atlyginimą yra išnykęs. Tema yra aktuali, kadangi situacija yra išskirtinė, kelianti nemažai klausimų, į kuriuos, dėl literatūros bei teismų praktikos stygiaus, sunku atsakyti. Temos naujumą pagrindžia tai, kad buvo praplėstas netiesioginės atsakomybės taikymas bei, todėl, kad nebuvo konkrečių taisyklių, kurios būtų sureguliavusios tokią situaciją – unikaliai interpretuotas įstatymas. Šiuo darbu yra siekiama nustatyti, ar bankrutavusi įmonė turi pareigą atlyginti jos darbuotojų sukeltą žalą. Pirmame skyriuje - analizuojame Lietuvos Aukščiausiojo Teismo nutartį. Siekiame atsakyti į klausimą, kas turėtų atlyginti žalą, kurią sukėlė įmonės darbuotojas, kai įmonė po kurio laiko bankrutavo – bankrutavusi įmonė ar pats darbuotojas. Dėmesys atkreipiamas į Konstitucijoje įtvirtintą žalos atlyginimo principą bei Civilinio Kodekso 6.264 str. įtvirtiną netiesioginės atsakomybės institutą. Siekiant apsaugoti nukentėjusiojo interesus bei remiantis regreso teisės institutu, nagrinėjame tiesioginės darbuotojo atsakomybės galimybę. Didesnis dėmesys atkreiptinas į įmonės vadovą, kaip subjektą atsakingą už kylančią žalą, todėl aptariamos vadovo atsakomybės kilimo sąlygos bei jo fiduciarinės pareigos. Antrame skyriuje - analizuojama materialinė atsakomybė ir jos kilimo sąlygos. Didesnis dėmesys skiriamas, tik darbo santykiams būdingoms sąlygoms. Remiantis naujuoju Darbo Kodeksu bei teisine literatūra, aptariama ribota ir visiška materialinė atsakomybė. Pabrėžiami esminiai pakeitimai susiję su materialine atsakomybe. Trečiame skyriuje - analizuojamas įmonės bankrotas. Remiantis įmonės likvidavimo pasekmėmis, yra nustatoma ar bankrutavusi įmonė vis dar turi išlikusių teisių ir pareigų. Remiantis Konstitucinio Teismo nutarimu bei įstatymais, nagrinėjamas žalos atlyginimo institutas – visiškas žalos atlyginimo principas, bei šio principo išimtys. Nesant aiškios teisinės praktikos, dėl kurios tampa sunku atsakyti į nagrinėjamą klausimą, remiantis užsienio praktika, yra pateikiamas galimas problemos sprendimas. Galiausiai, remiantis teisingumo, proporcingumo, adekvatumo bei teisinio apibrėžtumo principais, autorius išreiškia savo mintis, kad tiesioginės darbuotojo atsakomybės taikymas gali pažeisti šiuos principus. Darbe iškelta hipotezė, kad bankrutavusi įmonė neturi pareigos atlyginti jos darbuotojų sukeltą žalą, pasitvirtino. Tačiau, darbo autoriaus nuomone, toks bankrutavusios įmonės pareigos isnykimas nėra teisingas darbuotojo atžvilgiu.
In the Master‘s final thesis „Does Bankrupt Company Has a Duty to Compensate Damage Caused by Its Employees“ we analize a quite rare problem about liability for damages caused by employees of the company that goes bankrupt. In Lithuanian courts practice, for this day, there are only few situations like this. According to Lithuanian courts practice, till October 26th of 2015, the main rule was, that if an employee causes damage while doing his work duties - the liability goes to employer. However, after this date, Lithuanian Supreme Court inducted ruling and for the first time in Lithuanian courts practice consolidated direct liabily for employee, when subject, that is indirectly liable for employee‘s caused damages, has been liquidated. This Theme is relevant, because deepening into our final thesis, a lot of questions arised. However, for this day, there are very little of court practice and legal literature, related to our final thesis, thats is why, we will not be able to answer all of the questions. Theme is also new, because situation that arises in this theme, extended explanation of indirect liability institute and Supreme Court, willing to argument its ruling, had to make law interpretations, because, for this day, there was no legal rules, that could regulate this situation. Nevertheless, with this Master‘s final thesis, the author, will try to analize civil and material liability and also necessity to compensate damages. According to courts practice and legal literature, author will try to answer the main question - does bankrupt company has a duty to compensate damage caused by its employees. The first part of this work - starts with analysis of Lithuanian Supreme Courts October 26th of 2015 ruling. Main question in this ruling is: who has a duty to compensate damages, caused by an employee (companies manager) – is it the liquidated company or is it the employee himself. To answer this question, Supreme Court goes after principle of necessity to compensate damages, that arises from Lituanian Constitution. Also, seeking to protect rights of the victim, Supreme Court goes after Civil Code article 6.264, and for the first time in Lithuanian courts practice, expands aplication of indirect liability institute. According to Supreme Court, in the situation, when company, which is liable for damages, is liquidated before compensating the damages, ruling of indirect liabily, must be explained as giving additional guarantees to the victim. Finally, Supreme Court, based on institution of regress, established possibility of direct liability of an employee. The end of part one finishes with the analysis of the liability of company‘s director. In this part, author talks about conditions of company director‘s liability, that arises from Lithuanian Civil Code articles 6.246 – 6.249 and also about company director‘s special duties – intelligence, carefulness, honesty, loyalty. Second part of this work, analysis material liability. In this part, author discusses conditions of material liability. Even geater attention is given to special conditions, that are: the existence of labor relationship and whether damages were caused in relation to labor duties. Also, in this part, the limits of material liability are set. Author, based on new Labor Code and legal literature, talks about limited and unlimited material liability, and also points out changes from new Labor Code, in relation with material liability. In the last part of this work, two main problems are analysed – does a bankrupt company still have some rights and duties and the necessity to compensation of damages. To answer the first problem, does a bankrupt company still have rights and duties, author tries to understand what is a bankruptcy of a company in general. Since, the main stage of bankruptcy process is liquidation process, author talks about the consequences, that arises when court accepts the ruling of companies liquidation. After analysis of company bankruptcy, author, finally, is able to answer the question, that arises in this part of the work, about liquidated company rights and duties. Moving forward, in relation with Constitution Court of Republic of Lithuania, the second problem is being solved. Author analyses institute of compensation of damages. To understand the true meaning of compensation of damages institute, that is set in the Lithuanian Constitution, author talks about complete compensation of damages. Since, there are some exceptions, in relation with complete compensation of damages, author points them out. As going deeper into Master‘s final thesis, it is understood, that for this day, in the Republic of Lithuania, there are no laws, that could regulate such situation, that arises in this work. However, author finds some examples of different countries, how they regulate such situation. Still the author comes with some difficulties which could arise, if Lithuania had adopted these examples. Also, the author suggests some possible solutions to solve these difficulties. To finish this work, in accordance with principles of justice, proportion, adequacy and legal certainty, author gives his opinion, that acceptance of direct liability of employee, could violate these principles. Hypothesis, that bankrupt company has no duty to compensate damages caused by its employees, is confirmed. However, in author opinion, such evaluation might restrict employee‘s rights.