At the beginning of the year, a number of amendments to the labor laws came into force, which have significant implications for both parties to the employment relationship.
The amendment to the Labor Code introduced among other things more lenient requirements for employers to specify remuneration conditions in the form of intra-company regulations, providing for the obligation to introduce remuneration regulations for employers with at least 50 employees, rather than 20, as before.
The changes also concern the rules for issuing labor certificates to employees. In the case of the continuation of an employee’s employment under another (new) contract, the employer has a statutory obligation to issue an employment certificate only after the end of the last of the contracts binding it to the employee, unless the employee requests in writing that an employment certificate be issued earlier, for example, after the end of one term contract, after which employment is continued under another contract. The implementing regulations of the Labor Code also introduced new detailed rules on the content of the labor certificate, the manner and mode of its issuance, rectification and supplementation, as well as established an auxiliary template for the labor certificate.
In addition, the updated labor legislation stipulates that a contract of joint material liability for property entrusted to employees including the obligation to account must be concluded in writing under pain of nullity.
Exceptionally important, for both employees and employers, are the changes in the statutory time limits within which employees are entitled to file an appeal to the labor court against termination of their employment contract, as well as to demand reinstatement or compensation and to demand the establishment of an employment contract. This is because according to the new wording of Article 264 of the Labor Code, these deadlines have been extended from 7 and 14 days to as many as 21 days, respectively. On the one hand, this imposes an obligation on the employer to properly instruct the employee about his rights, in the event of termination of the employment contract by the employer, while on the other hand, it may cause the employer a slightly longer state of uncertainty about the employee’s exercise of his rights. At the same time, for employees, this change is undoubtedly very beneficial, as it allows them to calmly consider taking their case to the labor court, as well as to effectively use this extended period to find assistance from professional attorneys, which is undoubtedly of great importance in any labor lawsuit.