Hungary

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), European Centre of Expertise (ECE)
• Pages: 27-28

Flash Re por t 1 2/2018

Decem ber 20 18

27

Hungary

Sum ma ry

(I )

The m aximum possible r efer ence per iod for f lexible working tim e has been

significantly incr eased.

(I I) Th e m ax imum possible hour s of overtim e p er year h av e

been significantly

extended .

(I II) Th e go ver nm ent has bee n au th ori sed t o det erm ine a m in imu m fee for temporary

age ncy work .

____ ___ ________ ___ ________ ___ ________ ___ _____ ___ ___ _____ ___ ___ _____ __

1 Nation al Le gislat ion

1.1 W orkin g t ime, tem por ary ag ency w or k

The Act on Org ani sat ion of Wor kin g Tim e an d Mi nim al Fee f or Leasi ng Tem por ary Ag ency

Wor k ( Act CXVI of 2018 ) was adopt ed by th e Hung ar ian Parliam en t on 12 Decem ber

20 18 a nd si gned by the President of th e Repu blic on 2 0 Decem ber. This act co mes into

force on 01 Jan uary 20 19.

1.1 .1 W or kin g t ime

The reference period f or working tim e is regulat ed in t he Hun garian Labour Code (LC)

as a ‘wor king time bank ’ in Sect ion 94 . The am endm ent h as sig nifican tly increased the

maxim um p ossible reference per iod that can be det erm ined by collective agreem ent to

36 m ont h s ‘if j ust if ied by technical r easons or r eason s related to work or ganisation ’.

How ev er , t he new provision of Sect ion 99 Sub 7 provides that in case of an irregular

work schedule, daily and w eekly w or king tim e m u st , on av er ag e, be tak en f or a 12 -

month period if j u st if ied by objectiv e or technical reasons or reasons concerning t he

organisat ion of wor k ‘un der provisions of collect ive agr eem ent’. This im plies that t he

collect ive agr eement m ay not allow for a reference period of mor e than 12 m on t hs.

How ever , if t his int erp ret ati on hold s tr ue, th e r egul ati on o f a 36-m on th ref eren ce pe riod

is mea nin gless . Sect ion 99 Su b 2 in crea sed th e m axi mu m dail y wor kin g t im e t o 12 hou rs

and th e maxim um week ly w orking to 4 8 hours.

The gene ral reaso ning un derl ying th e am end men t i s th at the LC’s o rigi nal obje ctiv e w as

th e im prov em ent of th e m ar k et econom y and contain m en t of St at e in tervent ion. The

role of the collect iv e agreem ent s is t o be streng thened and flex ible solu t ions are t o

bolst er the supp ly side of t he lab ou r m arket. The proposal r efer s to the 6 -7 year old

pr oduct cycle of en ter prises, asser ting th at pr oduct ion sh ould be adap ted to demand.

Moreov er, th e m ax imum am ount of ov er t im e hours h as been ext ended su bstantially .

Sect ion 109 LC now allows th e em p loyer t o request a w or k er to work 25 0 hours of

over tim e per year , an d an agr eeme nt betw een the em ploye r an d em ploy ee can add up

to an additional 1 50 hours or ‘non-im posed’ overtim e work per y ear. The agr eement

may be termin at ed by t he em ploy ee at t he en d of the calen dar year . Section 135 Sub

3 now provi des t hat a co llect ive agreem ent ma y al low for up t o 3 00 hour s of em plo yer-

im posed ann ual overtim e an d a fu rth er 1 00 hour s of ‘n on-im posed’ overt ime wo rk.

Taken t ogether wit h the r egulation of p aid annu al leave in Section 116 and 117 of t he

LC, th e norm al ann ual w ork ing hour s based on a w eekly wor k sch edule of 4 0 ho urs ar e

1 92 0 hours in tot al. With th e possibilit y of add ing 40 0 hours of ov ertim e per year th us

incre ases t he ann ual worki ng t ime t o pot ential ly 2 300 hour s.

Sect ion 6 6 p rov ide s t hat an em pl oyee ’s w it hdr aw al f ro m an agr eem ent on ‘n on-imposed ’

overtim e m ay n ot in itself serve as a g roun ds for t erm inat ion.