Delivery and method of providing information
The amendment specifies that for the delivery of documents by postal undertakings sent by the employer, the collection period must not be shorter than 10 days. The amendment also determines that the information to be provided to the employee in written form and the employer’s written responses shall be provided to the employee in paper or electronic form.
Electronic communication with the employee is only possible if the Labour Code does not preclude it. The possibility of electronic communication is conditioned by the fact that:
– the employee has access to the electronic form of the information, can save and print it and
– the employer will keep a document of its sending or its receipt.
New regulation of re-employment
The Labor Code amends § 40 Section 12:
(12) The duration of the employment relationship for the purposes of this Act also includes the duration of the previous employment, which is immediately followed by the duration of the employee’s new employment with the same employer.
Meal allowance – deduction
The amendment introduces the possibility of deducting from the employee’s wages without his consent also “unaccounted advances for the employer’s allowance for meals or for a purpose-linked financial allowance for meals”.
Probationary period
In the case of the employee with a fixed-term contract, the agreed probational period may not be longer than half of the agreed duration of the employment.
Maintenance of working conditions during the Nursing Benefit
§ 157 of the Labour Code was supplemented with the maintenance of working conditions during the Nursing Benefit care. If an employee returns to work after the end of an important personal obstacle at work, which is maternity leave, paternity leave, personal and full-time care of a sick family member in accordance with a special regulation or personal and full-time care of a natural person in accordance with a special regulation, the employer is obliged to include them to their original position and workplace.
Determination of working time in the employment contract
Established weekly working time (§ 85, sec. 8) – is the working time that the employer determines in accordance with § 85. It is the weekly range of working time (amount of full-time work), valid for a given workplace, or employee. If the employee has an employment contract for shorter than the established working hours, the shorter working hours must be agreed in the employment contract according to § 49 sec. 1. If the employee has an agreed full-time employment contract, the amount of time is not a mandatory part of the employment contract after November 1, 2022.
Changes in agreements from November 1, 2022
From November 1, 2022, other provisions of the Labor Code (amendment of § 223, paragraph 2) also apply to agreements on work performed outside the employment relationship, and new obligations are established for agreements in which the average weekly working time exceeds 3 hours in a period of 4 consecutive weeks. A new paragraph 3 is added in § 223.
Changes in the Paternity leave from November 1, 2022
From November 1, 2022, the father is also entitled to maternity/ paternity leave in the amount of 2 weeks from the birth of the child to 6 weeks from the day of birth. The social insurance company uses the term ” Paternity leave” for this purpose, and thus paternity leave = new 2-week maternity leave. During this period, the father is entitled to paternity allowance and the mother maternity or parental allowance at the same time. The period of 6 weeks from the birth of the child is extended by the calendar days during which the child was admitted to the institutional care of a health facility for health reasons on the part of the child or child’s mother, if the day of admission falls within the period of 6 weeks from the day of birth. The amount of the paternity allowance is 75 % of the daily assessment base for one calendar day.
Changes to the early retirement pension
With effect from 1 November 2022, the amendment tightens the conditions for granting an early retirement pension. The Social Insurance Institution grants an early old-age pension only if its amount is higher than 1.6 times the applicable subsistence minimum for an adult natural person.
From November 1, 2022 Social Insurance will grant early retirement pension if its amount is higher than 1.6 x 234.42 = €375.072, i.e. the newly recognized early retirement pension must be at least € 375.10 (benefits are rounded up to 10 euro cents).