Doing business in Hungary: Staff welfare
10 April 2012by Ina Dimireva -- last modified 10 April 2012
Social legislation in Hungary ensures equal opportunities for men and women and sets health and safety standards at the workplace.
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Legal requirements
Social rules
Non-discrimination, equal treatment and gender equality
Ensuring equal opportunities for men and women is one of the fundamental democratic principles of the legal system in Hungary.
Act on the Promotion of Equal Treatment and Equal Opportunities
Equal rights for men and women, and protection of mothers, women and minors
Health and safety at work
The Health and Safety Act is one of the key documents detailing health and safety requirements for work organisations, as well as requirements for preventing work accidents and employment-related illness.
The labour and occupational health and safety authority responsible for the public administration of health and safety at work is the Hungarian Labour Inspectorate, as well as the occupational health and safety and labour inspectorates of the Budapest municipal and county administration bodies for occupational health and safety and labour.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, employers have to provide an occupational healthcare service for all employees.
Decree on Occupational Healthcare Services
Labour law
Contract law
General labour regulations on the territory of the Republic of Hungary are outlined in the Labour Code.
An employment contract is a written agreement between an employer and an employee creating an employment relationship and containing the rights and obligations of the parties to the employment relationship.
Mandatory components of an employment contract
Essential elements of an employment contract
Rules for amending employment contracts
Automatic amendments to employment contracts
The employer's obligation to provide information when concluding a contract
Employment relationships
The creation of an employment relationship is based on the conclusion of an employment contract that has strict requirements concerning its content and form. There is also the possibility of “simplified” employment, where the employment relationship is created when the employer meets his reporting obligations in respect of the tax authority on the basis of an agreement between the parties, or a simplified contract of employment is concluded.
Employment of foreigners in Hungary
Commencement and duration of the employment relationship
Parties to the employment relationship
Termination of employment by mutual consent
Termination of employment during the probation period
Labour protection
Employers must pay pension insurance contributions, health insurance contributions and labour market contributions every month, in order to cover any social security benefits. They must also pay sickness benefit contributions in the event that any sickness benefits are paid. They also have an obligation to pay healthcare contributions in order to cover healthcare services. Employees are entitled to fifteen working days' sick leave per calendar year for periods of incapacity owing to illness. In certain cases, there is a possibility of exemption from work.
National insurance contributions
Healthcare and labour market contributions
Pension insurance contributions
Level of contributions to be paid
In the interests of working safely, employers must provide their employees with health and safety training, and arrange preliminary, periodical and one-off medical examinations for them.
Decree on Medical Examinations of Fitness for Work
Health and safety training, and preliminary and periodical medical examinations
Litigation
The labour courts operating in the counties and the capital city must be consulted in relation to legal employment disputes.
Consequences of neglecting employment obligations
Refusal to work and follow employer's instructions
Secondary employment and work on the side
Mandatory social rules complete the requirements related to managing staff.
Businesses are free to go beyond the minimum social legal requirements at their own initiative.
Administrative procedures
Non-discrimination, equal treatment and gender equality
The Equal Treatment Authority is a national body that receives reports and complaints relating to discrimination throughout the country.
Form for reporting a breach of the equal treatment requirement
Health and safety at work
In any case, the requirements for working safely so as not to endanger health must be ensured by the employer. It is an important provision that employers may not provide employees with financial or other rewards instead of fulfilling the requirements for working safely so as not to endanger health.
Requirements for health and safety at work
According to the provisions of the Health and Safety Act, employers are obliged to perform a qualitative and, where necessary, quantitative assessment of the risk of endangering the health and safety of employees.
Guide to carrying out a workplace risk assessment
Social security
The Social Security Number (TAJ number) is a personal identifier that Hungarian nationals receive at birth and keep all their lives. This code is used in records relating to healthcare, social and personal pension systems. TAJ numbers are generated by the National Health Insurance Fund.
National Health Insurance Fund
Employers must pay pension insurance contributions, health insurance contributions and labour market contributions every month, in order to cover any social security benefits, and also sickness benefit contributions (in the event that any sickness benefits are paid). They also have an obligation to pay healthcare contributions in order to supplement the resources necessary to fund healthcare services in respect of certain income.
National insurance contributions
Healthcare and labour market contributions
Pension insurance contributions
Accidents at work and occupational diseases must be reported, investigated and recorded. Accidents at work that lead to incapacity must also be investigated immediately, and the result must be recorded in the workplace accident log book. The circumstances of any accidents at work that do not lead to incapacity must also be clarified, and the results must be recorded.
Amendment to the workplace accident log book
Resources
Websites of governmental bodies responsible for health and safety at work:
Programmes
The Social Renewal Operational Programme focuses on job market supply, human resources development and increased involvement in the job market.
Social Renewal Operational Programme - National Development Agency
Social Renewal Operational Programme
The Government’s main aim with the New Széchenyi Plan Employment programme is to increase employment and encourage employment in target groups for equal opportunities.
New Széchenyi Plan - Employment programme
The aim of the Partnership for Safe Employment project, launched by the former Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and the Hungarian Health and Safety at Work and Labour Inspectorate, is to promote safety at work through voluntary commitments from participants.
Partnership for Safe Employment
The purpose of the National Equal Opportunities Network is to support the government's equal opportunities policy. It also aims to support the integration policies designed for social acceptance of disadvantaged groups.
National Equal Opportunities Network
Source: Your Europe
