Changes in the Labour Code

Act 67 of 2016 on next year’s budget has amended the Labour Code too. One of the new elements is that in the past pregnant women couldn’t be made redundant if they officially informed the employer about the pregnancy in advance (before receiving a dismissal notice). According to the new rules, the employer must revoke the dismissal notice within 15 days after sending the notice if the employee only informs them about being pregnant after having been laid off. 1 January 2017 brings new regulation in the field of rest periods: the combined rest period for two consecutive days must be 22 hours – this means that if one day an employee’s rest period is shorter than 11 hours, the next day it is mandatory to give them a rest period that is longer than 11 hours.

The rules of secondment have also been modified: those who go to work in another member state of the European Union for a temporary period shouldn’t suffer any disadvantage. This also means that if someone seconded to Hungary, they must get all the minimum benefits provided to employees by the Hungarian state, even if these benefits are bigger in Hungary than in the home country of the seconded person. Deloitte’s analysis also reveals that more information has to be provided about the persons seconded to Hungary. Employers in EU member states are obliged to register seconded employees from another country in the IT system especially designed for this purpose, so that the authorities of the sending country have up to date information about those working temporarily abroad. /