As an employee, you have a duty to serve your employer diligently. But, you don’t have a duty to continue serving your employer for life. If you ever feel like leaving, you are free to resign even without any valid ground (Article 31 of the labour proclamation No. 377/2003.) The only procedural requirement is giving a one month prior notice. Failure to give notice results in your liability to pay compensation (a maximum of your thirty days wages) to the employer (Article 45 of the labour proclamation No. 377/2003.)

But, is it always true that an employee does not have a duty to continue serving his employer at least for a limited period of time? There is one exception (limitation?) to the freedom of the employee to leave his employment. That is when the employer has covered education expenses of the employee and there is an express of employee to continue his employment for a limited period of time. The nature of this contractual obligation is not absolute rather it is alternative. This is to mean that the employee has still a choice either to serve his employer or reimburse all the expenses of education.

The following is a very brief summary of the position of the Cassation Bench of the Federal Supreme Court on issues related to the duty to serve.

My summary is based on the following six cases decided by the bench Continue reading The Duty to serve: Cassation Bench on the legal effects of employer-sponsored Tuition Assistance