Company Regulations on Alcohol Use at the Workplace: Is Dismissal Legal?
Article 125 of the 2019 Labor Code provides:
The form of disciplinary action of dismissal applied by the employer in the following cases:
The employee commits theft, embezzlement, gambling, intentionally causes injury, or uses drugs at the workplace;
The employee discloses business secrets, technological secrets, infringes on the employer's intellectual property rights, causes serious damage or threatens to cause particularly serious damage to the employer's property and interests, or commits sexual harassment at the workplace as stipulated in the labor regulations;
The employee is disciplined by extending the period for salary increase or demotion and repeats the violation during the period of unexpunged discipline. Repetition of the violation is the case where the employee repeats the act of violation which has been disciplined but has not been expunged under the provisions of Article 126 of this Code;
The employee arbitrarily leaves the job for 05 cumulative days within 30 days or 20 cumulative days within 365 days from the first day of unauthorized leave without a legitimate reason.
Cases considered having legitimate reasons include natural disasters, fire, the employee or their family members are ill with confirmation from a competent medical facility, and other cases as stipulated in the labor regulations.
The employer is only allowed to apply the form of disciplinary dismissal to the employee when they violate the aforementioned cases. Accordingly, there is no act of drinking alcohol at the workplace. Therefore, if the company stipulates that the use of alcohol at the workplace will lead to dismissal, it is not in compliance with labor laws. For this behavior, the employer can only apply the form of reprimand; extend the period for salary increase not exceeding 06 months or demote, but cannot dismiss.
Sincerely!
