The most important changes are described below.
1. Legislative changes in the field of labor law
1.1 Introduction of the employment certificate
The employer shall issue a certificate of employment upon termination of employment, except in the case of occasional work relationship. The amendment ensures that employees do not receive several different documents when their employment relationship is terminated, but only one single document containing all the necessary information, either in electronic form or on paper.
The certificate of employment will be issued in electronic form, the content of which will be laid down in a decree by the Minister responsible for employment policy. The employment certificate will be made available on paper at the request of the employee.
The employer issues the certificate of employment to the employee within five working days of the last day of work in the case of termination, or within five working days of the termination of employment in other cases.
The content of the certificate of employment is supplemented
1.2 Retention obligation
An important new rule is that from January, not only employment documents containing information on earnings and income related to the insured or former insured person’s insurance status, but also all such data and employment certificates must be kept for five years after the insured or former insured person reaches the retirement age.
However, the obligation for employers to keep records will be phased out from 1 January 2025, so that the obligation will only apply to records generated up to 31 December 2024. In future, the data needed to establish the pension benefits will be contained in the public registers.
1.3 Allocation of vacation time
According to the Labour Code, the employer shall grant the additional child leave at the time requested by the employee too. The employee must notify the employer of his/her request for such leave and regarding the parental leave at least fifteen days before the start of the leave.
1.4 Rules on working in front of a screen
Employers are still obliged to ensure that continuous screen time is interrupted by breaks of at least ten minutes per hour, but the amendment removes the limit of 6 hours of screen time per day and the 75% limit on daily working time.
1.5 Suitability for the job
As of 1 September 2024, there will be no general obligation for workers to undergo an occupational health examination. Legislation may specify the types of work for which the employee’s suitability shall be examined before taking up work and on a regular basis during the life of the employment relationship, and employers may also order it.
The mandatory cases will be defined by ministerial decree.
2. Legislative changes in the field of labour safety
2.1 Rules on professional qualifications
As a result of the changes the relevant act, it is now possible to perform certain occupational health tasks defined in the legislation with a professional, but non-medical qualification.
2.2 Occupational safety education
The employer must provide the employee with health and safety training when starting work, when the workplace or job changes and when the requirements for safe and healthy working conditions change.
As of 1 February 2024, the legislation allows employers to provide the training for activities, jobs and positions defined in the decree of the Minister responsible for employment policy by providing the employee with the general training topics.
The handover can also be done by publishing the educational content on an internal electronic network accessible to the employee.
2.3 Rules on accidents at work
The employer must also investigate the circumstances of the accident at work that does not result in disability for work and must determine the method and documentation. There is a new protocol template to be fulfilled in those cases.
2.4 Workplace EHS representative
The novelty is that the legislation sets a deadline for the election of the labour representative. If the employer is obliged to elect an EHS representative, the election must be held within six months of the date on which the obligation arises. In an employer where there is an elected EHS representative, the election thereof must be held within three months after the expiry of the mandate of the safety representative.
