Labour code amendments in relation to coronavirus pandemic

Wage compensation

The amendment to the Labor Code introduces a change that employers who have had to suspend production or limit their activities, without trade unionists, will be able to decide that they can compensate employees with a wage of 80 percent of their average earnings, but at least the minimum wage.

The amendment also brings another important change, so that employers without employees' representatives, ie trade unions, may decide that they can compensate employees with a wage of 80 percent of the employee's average earnings, but at least equal to the minimum wage.

This applies to cases where an employee is unable to perform work in whole or in part due to interruption or limitation of an employer's activity based on the discretion of the competent authority or due to restriction of a business as a result of a state of emergency.

The amendment, approved by the Government with comments, regulates the organization of working time, leave and obstacles to work on the part of both the employee and the employer. A new option is to provide the possibility of working from the employee's household, if the nature of the work so permits.

The amendment regulates the conditions for taking leave in terms of the employer 's obligation to notify in advance by reducing the set time to at least seven days in advance and, in the case of leave carried over from the previous year or years, to at least two days.

Protection against termination of employment

The Ministry of labour also proposes to supplement employee protection against termination of employment and protection when returning to work if the employee uses an important personal obstacle to work such as to treat a sick family member or to care for a child.

This should also apply to employees who are subject to quarantine or isolation. "The same protection as that granted to an employee who is temporarily unfit for work shall be ensured,"

Employers are also supposed to lose some of their responsibilities in times of emergency in terms of health and safety at work (OSH). This is the case, for example, in the situation of occupational health and safety reporting obligations that a company has when it recruits a new employee or reassigns it to another workplace.

Working time

If, due to a state of emergency, the employer is unable to allocate work and provides wage compensation, the new employer will be able to order the employee to work the time for which he was entitled to wage compensation.

"Work can be ordered up to a maximum of 400 hours per calendar year and work can be done no later than 12 months from the day the obstacle to work occurred," the Labor Code says.

The employee's wage is paid for the time of work. This time will not count towards your average weekly working time, but your business will separately mark it.

Unemployment benefits

In the area of ​​social insurance, the Ministry of Labour wants to secure income for people who receive an unemployment benefit by temporarily extending the support period for receiving this benefit by one month, because they are unable to find a job in times of crisis.