Redundancy and a contractor fall at a coal services company
Karaganda Mine Services JSC employs 320 people. Falling coal prices force a 15% staff reduction. The HR plan lists a pregnant accountant with eight years' service; a single mother with a two-year-old child; a disabled electrician injured at work two years ago; and three contractors working under a services agreement. The company also had a serious incident: a contractor's worker fell from a scaffold and was hospitalized. The site manager did not notify the labour inspectorate, did not preserve the scene, and allowed work to continue. The trade union has not been informed of the reduction. The CEO wants to issue dismissal notices next week to cut costs before quarter-end. The company has a collective agreement that repeats statutory severance terms but adds no extra protection. The contractors' agreement says they are independent businesses responsible for their own staff. The disabled electrician's job is not eliminated in the draft plan.
1. Which listed individuals can be dismissed for redundancy, and what procedure must be followed?
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The pregnant accountant cannot be dismissed at the employer's initiative except in liquidation. The single mother with a two-year-old child is also within the protected category for women with young children, so redundancy is not available. The disabled electrician is not automatically protected merely by disability, but his job is not eliminated in the draft plan, so there is no lawful redundancy ground for him; dismissing him would require a different, properly documented basis and would invite a reinstatement claim. The three contractors are not employees if the services agreement reflects genuine independent contracting, so they are outside the redundancy procedure, but the company must still assess control and safety coordination at the site. For any lawful redundancy, the employer must issue a decision, notify the trade union, give at least one month's notice, offer suitable vacancies, apply preferential-right rules, pay statutory severance, and document the selection criteria.
2. What are the occupational safety obligations after the contractor's fall?
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A serious accident at the facility triggers immediate notification to the labour inspectorate and local authorities, preservation of the scene unless life-saving requires otherwise, and suspension of the affected work. The company must ensure first aid and hospitalization support, then form an investigation commission with the required employer, employee, and safety representatives. Even though the injured person is a contractor's worker, the facility owner or operator must coordinate with the contractor and investigate the interface, including scaffold condition, permits, supervision, and fall protection. The site manager's failure to notify and preserve the scene is itself a violation and should be documented. The first head should also review contractor safety induction, permit-to-work controls, and whether work continued in an unsafe area.
3. What should the CEO do before issuing any dismissal notices?
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The CEO should stop the notices and order a legal and safety review. Issuing them next week would create a high risk of reinstatement, fines, and reputational damage because protected employees are on the list and the union has not been informed. The correct sequence is to finalize a defensible selection matrix, remove protected employees and non-eliminated positions, inform the union, check vacancies, prepare severance funding, and align the redundancy with the collective agreement. In parallel, the company must handle the accident investigation and cooperate with the inspectorate. The board should receive a written risk report because cost-cutting before quarter-end is not a lawful justification for skipping mandatory labour and safety steps.