Magazine: Here – and there too’ – International employment structures

In general we can talk about an international employment structure when the place of work changes, and the employee – based on an agreement with their employer – temporary do their work in another country. The legal background of international employment is provided by the Hungarian Labour Code. In the last few years the regulation became much more flexible. In the centre of the regulation there is the employee: employers have to sign an agreement with them that specifies the rules of working abroad; at the same time the rules guarantee that the authorities of both the sender and the receiving countries have the necessary information about where the employee pays taxes, what kind of social benefits they are entitled to and how these are calculated and paid. It is very important to take into consideration the requirement of temporariness.

We can’t talk about secondment or posting if a worker enters the employment system of another country for an indefinite period of time, permanently. Wages cause many problems when someone goes to work abroad temporarily. The general practice is that if wages and benefits are higher in the receiving country, the employees are entitled to these and not to the lower ones in their home country. In the last few years many workforce lease companies were established abroad, which typically lease Hungarian-speaking workers to Hungarian companies.

The main reason behind this trend is the labour shortage that occurs in certain regions of the country. These labour force lease businesses must have themselves registered by the Hungarian authorities. Their workforce lease contracts need to be brought in line with Hungarian rules. At the same time employees very often get their salaries in the currency of their home country. International employment structures are rather diverse, there are special rules and requirements at practically every firm, but in general we can say that these company-specific rules are adaptable, thanks to the flexible Hungarian regulations.