The New Hungarian Labour Code Of The Future

The new Hungarian Labour Code is expected to make the life of employers easier and the Hungarian labour market more competitive.

The move towards a more employer-friendly labour law started with amendments to the current Labour Code (Act XXII of 1992 on the Labour Code), which were adopted by the Hungarian Parliament in the fi rst half of July 2011. Most of these amendments entered into force on 1 August 2011.

One change is that if the employee works beyond his or her agreed working hours (overtime), the employer may decide whether to provide time off from work or to pay the salary supplement for the overtime. On a regular business day, the supplement is 50% of the salary (ie, a total of 150% salary is payable). The time off may not be less than the duration of the extra work performed. Before this amendment, this option used to be available to the employer only if the parties had agreed so in advance or if a collective bargaining agreement had so provided.