Authors: Dr. Ákos Kékuti, Dr. Brigitta Kovács-Vitek

More flexible remote working rules

On the basis of the provisions of new regulation, the rules of distance working are changing. Although – according to the news – the specifying the rules regarding the home office have been expected, but the government decree exclusively contains provisions concerning distance working. These provisions basically fill significant gaps, therefore it will be possible the distance working for employers under much more lenient conditions than before.

Privacy & Employment

2020. Nov. 17.

It is important to have a special attention during the establishment of distance working conditions, since, although welcoming solutions were regulated, in spite thereof, for example, significant caution shall be exercised in case of reimbursement.

1. Derogation from the provisions of Hungarian Labor Code

Under the decree and during the state of emergency, the parties may derogate from the distance working provisions of Labor Code based on their agreement.

Accordingly, it shall be especially noted that under parties’ agreement

no need to amend the employment contract due to the compliance with the distance working rules,
there is not any additional information obligation burdening the employers,
work schedule is not automatically considered flexible.

2. Accounting for the costs

Under the provisions of the decree, the employer is entitled to allocate a specified amount in the frame of – fixed – cost reimbursement to the employee, which amount may be accounted as cost without any proofs, i.e. the employer is not burdened by income tax payment obligation.

It is important to highlight that such amount may be considered as the above, if

any other reimbursement on the basis of the ’overhead’–type legal title will not be paid to the employee regarding the distance working, as well as
it is distance working according to the employment contract and it is complied with the provisions of Labor Code.

Based on the above, in order to the cost will be accountable, according to our view, it is suggested to include the distance working rules in the employment contract.

3. Applying the labor safety rules

According to the provisions of Labor Code and Labor Safety Code, the employer is burdened by significant labor safety obligation in the frame of distance working as well, including e.g. the prior assessment and evaluation, etc. of work tools and the place of work.

In contrast, however, according to the newly published rules, the employer is actually burdened by a kind of information obligation, while the employee shall choose the appropriate working place. We kindly draw the attention that the information provided by the employer may be highly important during the determining the responsibility based on an eventually accident, in order thereof, we suggest a special care in this case as well.

The information above possesses exclusively informative nature, for further details we kindly ask you to contact our Firm.