Since the state of emergency was terminated on 18 June 2020, the special employment law provisions introduced due to the coronavirus pandemic are no longer applicable. In particular, the employer is no longer entitled to unilaterally request the employee to work from home.
If the duration of home office exceeds 44 working days or 352 working hours, the consent of the employee is required. The special provision that the employer and the employee are entitled to deviate from the provisions of the Labour Code without any restrictions are not applicable either.
However, there are a few employment law provisions which are still in effect. For instance, if the employer introduced a working time schedule covering 24 months, the termination of state of emergency does not affect the ongoing working time schedule. However, new working time schedule might only be introduced in accordance with the general provisions (i.e. as a general rule it may not exceed 6 months). Furthermore, the state aid introduced to support part-time employment is still available; the employers may apply for such aid before 31 August 2020.
By Eszter Ila-Horvath, Associate, KCG Partners Law Firm
