The year 2022 will be marked by changes in labour law. In the near future, we will be faced with, among other changes, the implementation of European directives on care leave and the justification of termination of fixed-term employment contracts, as well as the regulation of remote working and preventative sobriety checks for employees. Employers face the need to adapt existing regulations, but also to introduce completely new ones.
Category: Labour law
More and more important topic in organizations is taking action on the prevention of discrimination and mobbing. The topics of mobbing, discrimination and whistleblowers were discussed during a webinar that we had the pleasure to host on November 25, 2021. However, it is worth reiterating the importance of effectively implementing appropriate procedures and raising awareness, both among decision-makers and other employees in this area. This may contribute to reducing undesirable situations in the company.
On 19 August 2021, the President signed an amendment to the Act on Social Security System and some other acts. With a number of exceptions, the new provisions came into force 14 days after the date of publication. The amendment introduces numerous changes in the current social insurance system, mainly concerning sick leave and sick pay, which are to come into force on 1 January 2022. Although the goal is to ensure proportionality between revenues and costs of the Social Insurance Fund, in the opinion of some experts such thorough changes should be postponed until the epidemiological situation normalizes.
Among the draft amendments to the Labour Code, which in recent weeks have been submitted to the Government Legislative Centre, there is also a draft act amending the Labour Code act and the act on Upbringing in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism. The impulse to introduce changes in the area of alcohol testing of employees is the current legal regulation, which de facto makes it impossible to perform such tests, as well as the demands of employers themselves, pointing to the annual increase in the number of accidents at work caused by the intoxication of employees.
After lengthy consultations on the introduction of changes to the Labour Code, a draft act amending the Act – Labour Code, the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities and the Act on Employment Promotion and Labour Market Institutions was submitted to the Government Legislative Centre. Although the draft was submitted to the Government Legislative Centre in May, and its content was significantly modified in July, the draft is currently at the opinion stage. The bill is primarily a response to the recently widespread form of home office work and the need for increased health protection for workers in relation to COVID-19.