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3 Typical Errors Made by Employers in Issuing the Notice of Termination (Part III)Failure to Lawfully Deliver the Notice of Termination of ContractThe employer should terminate the contract in compliance with not only the substantial law but also the procedural law. It should inform the reason of the termination and deliver a notice of termination to the employee in a lawful manner. In practice, each of the following circumstances may constitute the employer’s failure to deliver the notice of termination as required by the law:If an employer unilaterally terminates the contract according to Article 40 or 41 of the Employment Contract Law, it needs to pay a severance to the employee based on the employee’s time of service. If the employer delays the delivery of the notice, it may have to pay extra severance equivalent to a half month’s wage even if the delay is for one day only.Defective Delivery AddressIn practice, an employee may fail to give the address where he/she actually resides or fail to notify the employer after such address is changed, and the employer delivers the notice of termination of contract directly to the employee’s registered residence on the excuse that it doesn’t know where the employee actually resides. In other cases, the employer may be fully aware of the fact that the employee has gone to the country to recuperate or is attending business in other places, but still sends the notice of termination of contract to the employee’s local residence. What calls for special attention is that if an employer doesn’t have strong evidence to prove that the employee has already received the notice of termination of contract, it may face serious legal risks.Service by Public Announcement without Exhausting All Other MeansIn the case of failure to deliver the notice of termination of contract in person, the employer may be reluctant to try to contact him/her to confirm his/her address in order to send the notice of termination by mail. Instead, the employer may directly publish a notice of the termination in the newspaper. In judicial practice, it is procedurally illegal to serve the notice of termination by public announcement without exhausting all other means. The employer will be faced with legal risks if it does so. The last but not the least, the notice of termination of contract is applicable only in the case of unilateral termination by the employer. If the contract is terminated through mutual consultation, it is advisable for the employer not to issue a notice of termination. Otherwise, it may face legal risks as well. 解除劳动合同不仅要实体合法，还应当程序合法。在解除劳动合同时，用人单位不仅应将解除事由告知劳动者，同时还要将解除劳动合同通知采取有效的方式送达劳动者。实践中，用人单位未依法送达解除劳动合同通知，主要表现为：如果用人单位系按照《劳动合同法》第四十条、第四十一条，单方解除劳动合同的，需要依法支付经济补偿金，而经济补偿系按照劳动者的在职时间计算，若用人单位延迟送达解除劳动合同通知，一天只差，亦或致用人单位需要额外支付相当于劳动者半个月月薪的经济补偿；实务中，有的劳动者入职时未填写本地居住地址或者居住地址已经发生变化，用人单位以不清楚劳动者居住于何处为由直接把解除劳动合同通知寄给劳动者外地的户籍所在地了事，也有用人单位明知劳动者在老家养病或在外地办事，但故意把解除劳动合同通知寄到劳动者在本地的居住地。需要注意的是，在用人单位其没有充分证据证明解除通知被有效送达的情况下，将面临严重的法律风险。在未能向劳动者当面送达解除劳动合同通知的情况下，有的用人单位怠于联系劳动者以确认送达地址，亦未邮寄解除劳动合同通知书，就直接在报纸上刊登了解除劳动合同的公告。在司法实务中，用人单位在未穷尽送达程序的前提下，直接采取公告送达属于程序性违法，亦将面临法律风险。最后还需要指出的是，解除劳动合同通知，一般适用于用人单位单方解除劳动合同的情形，如果是双方协商解除劳动合同的，用人单位不宜以通知的形式解除劳动合同，否则可能会有法律风险。
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