Labour law changes in 2023
Change in deadline calculation
The deadline is deemed to have been met if the declaration is posted no later than the last day of the deadline. In fact, a judicial practice has been transferred into the legislation and this amendment may be of assistance to employers mainly when giving notice of immediate termination during the probationary period.
Employer information leaflet
Deadline for handover
Employers must provide written information to their employees after the employment relationship has started. Employers had 15 days to provide this information under the previous rules, but this has been reduced to 7 calendar days from 1 January 2023 to increase transparency.
The possibility for employers not to provide information if the duration of employment does not exceed one month or 8 hours per week will be abolished. The only case in which information does not need to be given to the employee is if the daily working time does not exceed half an hour.
Content of the information leaflet
Three new points have been added to the mandatory information required by law. The most significant of the three new points is the extension of the information on working time.
The employer must inform the employee of the duration of the daily working time, including:
- the days of the week for which working time can be allocated,
- the possible starting and finishing times of the scheduled daily working hours,
- the possible duration of the extraordinary working time,
- the specific nature of the employer's activities
The employer must also provide information about the employer's own training policy and the length of time the employee can take part in training.
A new point is that the employer must inform the employee of the authority to which the employer pays the employment-related tax, which is. the NAV. (National Tax and Customs Administration)
Employees already in employment on 1 January 2023 must be given the extended information if they request it in writing within 3 months of 1 January 2023. In this case, the extended information must be given to the employee within 30 days of the request.
Information on posting abroad
In the case of posting abroad, workers were already required to be given specific information in a separate document. For stays abroad exceeding 15 days, the employee must be informed in writing at least 7 days before departure. The two new points that have been added to the information requirement are the following.
c) the conditions governing remuneration and reimbursement of travel, subsistence and accommodation expenses at the place of work.
e) the availability of a national website (ommf.gov.hu) containing relevant information on the rights and obligations of the employer providing cross-border services and the posted worker.
Exemption from work
In line with the European Directives, two new cases of exemption from work have been introduced to the legislation.
- An employee is exempted from work for a maximum of five working days per year if they provide personal care to a relative who needs care for serious health reasons or to a person living in the same household as the employee. These five days shall be granted in accordance with the worker's request, up to a maximum of two instalments. To this end, the worker must provide evidence of the health grounds and the justification for the care. The certificate must be issued by the general practitioner of the person in need of care. No remuneration is payable to the worker for this period.
- During the period of preparation for an adopotion the employee shall be exempted from work on the basis of a certificate issued by the adoption organisation at the time of their request, within ninety days of its issue. The employee shall be entitled to an absence gratuity for the period of the exemption.
An important change has been made in the case where an employee is exempted from work on the grounds of "incapacity to work on health grounds". Under the previous rules, if an employee was unfit to perform their job for health reasons, they had to be paid time off. Under the current change, for this period, the worker will not be entitled to payment of absence gratutity.
Changes affecting probationary period
A significant change regarding the probationary period is that the probationary period will also be proportionately shorter for short term contracts.
The amendment to the Labour Code stipulates that if the employment relationship is concluded for a maximum period of 12 months, the length of the probationary period will also be proportionate.
Under this rule, for example, in the case of a fixed-term employment contract of 6 months, the probationary period may be up to 1.5 months instead of the standard 3 months.
Leave from work
Paternity leave
The rules on paternity leave are amended. The father is entitled toa levae of ten workdays, to be granted at the latest by the end of the second month following the birth of his child or, in the case of adoption, the finalisation of the decision authorising the adoption, at the latest by the end of the second month following the adoption, to be granted in two instalments at the time requested.
Gratuity:
The father is entitled to 100% of the absence gratuity for days 1 to 5 of the leave, but only 40% thereafter. Paternity leave cannot be paid for at the end of the employment relationship.
Transitional provision that fathers who have a child born between 2 August 2022 and 31 December 2022 and have not yet taken paternity leave or have taken only 5 days may take the remainder of their leaveof 10 days, until the end of February.
Parental leave
The new form of leave resulting from the European Union Directive has been transposed into Hungarian law. The aim of the regulation is to allow both parents to spend as much time as possible with their child, if they wish. Accordingly, under the EU regulation, both parents are entitled to 4 months' leave for children up to the age of 8.
In the Hungarian legal environment, stricter rules have been introduced. The new Article 118/A of the Labour Code provides for parental leave of up to 44 working days up to the age of three, which may be taken up to the age of three. To be eligible for parental leave, the employment relationship must have lasted for one year after the birth of the child or, in the case of adoption, after the decision authorising the adoption has become final.
The employer will grant parental leave at the time requested by the employee. The employee must request the grant of leave at least fifteen days before the start of the leave, but the employer may, in exceptional cases of important economic interest or for reasons directly and seriously affecting its operations, postpone the grant of parental leave for a maximum of 60 days, giving the reasons for the postponement and informing the employee in writing of the date of proposed by the employer.
Gratuity:
During the parental leave, the employee is entitled to 10% of his/her absence pay. An important rule about parental leave is that it counts as acquisition perido for leave and a severance pay.
Transitional provision that, if the employee's child reaches the age of three between 2 August 2022 and 30 June 2023, parental leave may be granted, at the employee's request, until 30 June 2023 at the latest.
Granting leave
Each year, the employee must be granted 7 working days of leave at the time of their request. There is a major change to this rule. An employer may refuse to grant leave at the time requested by the employee for exceptional reasons of major economic interest or for reasons directly and seriously affecting its operations.
The main rule for granting leave remains that it must be granted in the year in which it is due. Exceptions to this rule are paternity and parental leave.
New rules on amending employment contracts
In Western European practice, it is already widely used that employees with families are given the possibility by law to request a change in their working conditions. Accordingly, the possibility for employees up to the age of eight or their child, or the cild they take care of, except for the first six months of employment, to request changes to the following areas of their employment contract has been transposed into Hungarian law.
1. change of the place of work,
2. change of working hours,
3. change to teleworking
4. modification for part-time work
The employee must submit their request in writing, stating what changes they want, when and how those can be made, and giving reasons why the changes are necessary.
The employer has 15 days to respond to the request in writing, but must give adequate reasons if the request is rejected. The justification must comply with the rules on justification for termination with immediate effect, i.e. it must be clear, reasonable and fair.
Termination of employment
Obligation to state reasons
A new provision is that, at the employee's request, the employer must state the reasons for the termination of employment even in the absence of an obligation to state reasons, if the employee claims that the termination is due to, for example, paternity or parental leave. The period for challenging the reasons is 30 days.
Dismissal prohibition
The prohibitions on dismissal are supplemented by the content of paternity leave, parental leave and leave to provide personal care for a relative who needs care for serious health reasons or for a person living in the same household as the worker.
Working time frame
According to the amendment, the start and end dates of the working time frame and the duration of the working time to be completed must be specified in writing and published, so unlike the previous rules, it is not sufficient to publish the start and end dates of the frame in the usual way on the spot, but the number of hours to be worked must also be published.
Rest period
The rule on the allocation of rest periods, which has been amended following an earlier decision of the Constitutional Court, provides that no daily rest period need be allocated if the employer does not allocate working time or does not order extraordinary working time for the day immediately following the end of work. The new Labour Code significantly expands employers' possibilities for scheduling working time. Section 106 (3) of the Labour Code, which provides that in the case of unequal working time
a) uninterrupted,
b) multiple shifts,
c) for workers employed in seasonal work,
uninterrupted weekly rest periods of at least forty hours per month and comprising one calendar day. In this case, a weekly rest period of at least forty-eight hours per week must be allocated, averaged over the working time frame or the reference period.
Other amandments
Work-related expenses
The amended rules on the performance of the employment relationship previously provided that the employer was obliged to reimburse the employee for the costs reasonably incurred in the performance of the employment relationship. The new requirement is that, in addition to justification, the necessity of the cost is a condition for the employer's obligation to reimburse it.
Equipmnet necessary for work
Under the previous legislation, the employer was obliged to provide the necessary working conditions, but following the amendment, the parties may agree to derogate from this. This means that the employee may in future provide the necessary facilities for work themselves, provided that this is agreed in the employment contract.
Young employees
There are also special rules for workers under 16 years of age: the maximum daily working time is now six hours, except for students aged 15 or over who are studying full-time and who work during school holidays. In the case of young workers employed in more than one employment relationship, the daily working time of the scheduled hours shall be added together. This means that the daily working time according to the schedule may not exceed the daily working time according to the employment contract.