Individual labor disputes are considered by the conciliation commissions, and on unresolved issues or non-fulfillment of the decision of the conciliation commission – by the courts, with the exception of small businesses and heads of the executive body of a legal entity.

The conciliation commission is a permanent body created in the organization, its branches and representative offices on an equal beginning from an equal number of representatives from the employer and employees.

The application received to the conciliation commission is subject to mandatory registration by the specified commission on the day of filing.

The dispute shall be considered in the presence of the applicant and (or) a representative authorized by him within the limits of his delegated authority in accordance with regulatory legal acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The conciliation commission is obliged to consider the dispute within fifteen business days from the date of registration of the application and issue the parties of the dispute copies of the decision within three days from the date of its adoption.

If the decision of the conciliation commission is not fulfilled within the prescribed period, the employee or employer has the right to apply to the court.

The following deadlines are set for appeal to the conciliation commission or the court for the consideration of individual labor disputes:

1. for disputes about reinstatement – one month from the date of delivery of a copy of the employer’s act of termination of the employment contract to the conciliation commission, and for recourse to court – two months from the date of delivery of a copy of the decision of the conciliation commission when applying on unresolved disputes or in case of failure to fulfill its decision party to an employment contract;
2. on other labor disputes – one year from the day when the employee or employer found out or should have known about the violation of his right.

 The deadline of the recourse on consideration of individual labor disputes is suspended in the period of validity agreement of the mediation on the labor dispute under consideration, as well as in the absence of a conciliation commission before its creation.

Collective Labor Dispute

A collective labor dispute shall be deemed to have arisen from the day of written notification by the employer about the requirements of employees regarding the application of the labor legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, fulfillment or amendment of the terms of agreements, labor and (or) collective agreements, acts of the employer drawn up in accordance with Article 164 of this Code. The employer must consider the requirements put forward by the employees not later than three business days, the association of employers – not later than five business days from the day they are received and take measures to resolve them, and if it is not possible to give decisions in given period bring their decisions and suggestions in writing to the employees with an indication their representatives for further consideration of the disagreement.

Collective labor disputes are resolved in the following sequence: are considered by the employer (association of employers) if it is impossible to resolve it – in the conciliation commission, if an agreement is not reached then by the labor arbitration, on issues not resolved by it – by the courts.

The conciliation commission is a body created by a joint decision of the parties on an equal beginning from an equal number of representatives from the employer and employees.

The decision to create a conciliation commission shall be made within three working days from the day dissemination or nondisclosure the employer, the association of employers (their representatives) their decision to the employees (their representatives) or compiled a protocol of disagreements during collective negotiation. If there are several representatives of employees in the organization, they create a single representative body to participate in the work of commission.

The conciliation commission shall consider the requirements of employees (their representatives) no later than seven business days from the date of their receipt. The procedure for consideration of requirements by the conciliation commission, the extension of the indicated period of consideration shall be carried out by agreement of the parties and shall be drawn up in a protocol.

If an agreement is not reached in the conciliation commission, its work is terminated, and labor arbitration is created to resolve the dispute.

Labor arbitration is created by the parties to a collective labor dispute within five working days from the day the conciliation commission ceases to work.

The decision of the labor arbitration is taken no later than seven working days from the date of its creation by a simple majority of the members of the arbitration. When the votes of the members of the labor arbitration are divided equally, the vote of the chairman is decisive. The decision must be motivated, set out in writing and signed by all members of the arbitration.

In the event of failure to comply with the decision of the labor arbitration within the prescribed period, the parties shall have the right to judicially resolve the dispute.

Employees may decide to hold a strike if, through conciliation procedures, it was not possible to resolve the collective labor dispute, as well as in cases where the employer evaded the conciliation procedures or failed to fulfill the agreement reached during the resolution of the collective labor dispute.

The decision to hold a strike is taken at a meeting (conference) of employees (their representatives).

A meeting of employees is considered valid if it is attended by more than half of the total number of employees of the organization.

A conference is considered valid if at least two-thirds of the delegates elected by the employees in accordance with the protocol decisions are present at it.

Decisions of the meeting (conference) of employees are considered adopted by a majority of participants. If it is impossible to hold a meeting (conference) of employees, the representative body of employees has the right to approve its decision by collecting signatures of more than half of the employees in support of the strike.

The employer, the association of employers (their representatives) must be notified in writing by the body authorized by the employees, referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 171 of this Code, about the start of the strike and its possible duration not later than five working days before its announcement.

The decision to declare a strike shall indicate:

1. a list of disagreements of the parties that are the basis for the strike;
2. the date, place and time of the start of the strike, the estimated number of participants;
3. the name of the body leading the strike, the composition of representatives of employees authorized to participate in conciliation proceedings;
4. proposals for minimizing the necessary work (services) performed during the strike period.

Illegal strikes

Strikes are illegal:

1. during periods of the imposition of martial law or a state of emergency or specific measures in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan on a state of emergency; in bodies and organizations of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Kazakhstan, other military formations and organizations that are responsible for ensuring the country’s defense, state security, emergency rescue, search and rescue, fire protection, warning or emergency response; in special state and law enforcement bodies; in organizations that are hazardous production facilities; at emergency and emergency medical stations;
2. in organizations of railway transport, civil aviation, healthcare, organizations that ensure the livelihoods of the population (public transport, water, electricity, heat, communications), in continuously operating industries, the suspension of which is associated with severe and dangerous consequences, if the conditions are not met, referred to in paragraph 2 of this article;
3. in the case of an announcement without taking into account the timeframes, procedures and requirements provided for by this Code;
4. in cases where this poses a real threat to the life and health of people;
5. in other cases, provided for by the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

If there is one of the reasons specified in this paragraph, the prosecutor has the right to suspend the strike until the court makes the appropriate decision.

A decision to declare a strike illegal is taken by a court in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In the process of settling a collective labor dispute, including a strike, lockout is prohibited, that is, termination of employment contracts with employees on the initiative of the employer in relation with their participation in a collective labor dispute or strike, except as provided for in subparagraph 22) of paragraph 1 of Article 52 of this Code.