Hungary amends Act XCIII of 1993 on Labour Safety and Act I of 2012 on the Labour Code

The Hungarian parliament adopted amendments to Act XCIII of 1993 on Labour Safety and Act I of 2012 on the Labour Code. The amendments to the above Labour Safety Act improve the quality of occupational safety and health, promoting transparency and cooperation between workplace actors. The provisions amending the Labour Code are intended to incorporate into existing legislation necessary amendments to labour law and certain related areas. The amendments will enter into force on 1 January 2025.

The following article summarises these changes.

1. Amendment of Act XCIII of 1993 on Labour Safety

According to the amendment to the Labour Safety Act, occupational safety and health professionals must provide the employer with up-to-date documents prepared in the framework of occupational safety and health activities. The employer must store these documents and ensure that they are accessible. The amendment will ensure that employers keep safety and health documentation up to date, transparent, and accessible to employees and their representatives.

Since the occupational safety fine will increase, the amendment allows the labour safety authority to authorise the payment of the fine in instalments upon request.

The range of occupational safety activities that can be carried out by an occupational safety expert is extended. Personnel requirements for the commissioning and periodic inspection of occupational safety and health will be extended to include occupational safety experts.

In addition, the definition of “work accident” will be amended. From 1 January 2025, accidents that are considered apprenticeship accidents under Act LXXX of 2019 on Vocational Education will no longer be considered work accidents, and the terms “mining accident" and “serious work accident" will be split for the sake of clarity and transparency. Furthermore, the scope of persons who are to be considered “employers” will also be amended.

2. Amendment of Act I of 2012 on the Labour Code

Under the amendment to the Labour Code, employees will be exempt from the obligation of availability and work for up to two hours for the purpose of participating in elections for individual representatives, mayors and referendums, if the duration of the ordinary or extraordinary working time scheduled for that day exceeds eight hours. An employee will be entitled to an absence fee for this period.

To harmonise national and EU law, the amendment also supplements that provision of the Labour Code, which allows employees with longer daily working time to terminate the agreement that increases their working time. According to the amendment, an employee may terminate the agreement with fifteen days’ notice after six months in the case of a working-time frame of more than six months. The purpose of the amendment is to give an employee the right to terminate the agreement before the end of the working time frame if the working time frame exceeds six months.

In addition, the amendment extends the length of time for which the paternity leave may be used from two to four months. A further amendment to the rules on paternity leave removes the exception prohibiting termination of executive employees that allowed an employer to terminate an executive employee by delivering regular notice of termination during paternity leave.

For more information on health and safety rules and the labour code in Hungary, contact your CMS client partner or these CMS experts.

This article was co-authored by Viktor Kovács