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Non-competition agreement
20-28Views:215The “agreement on non-competition” is essentially the extension of the protection of the basic economic interest of the employer. While during the employment relationship several labor law provisions protect the interest of both parties, the “agreement on non-competition” is designed to protect the employer’s interests after the termination of the relationship. This means – in return for financial compensation – the former employee needs to refrain from any kind of business competition against his/her former employer. This necessarily involves financial compensation and may have several restrictions, such business or geographical area or time.
The previous Labor Code did not specify for detailed regulation of the issue and the law remained rather vague. It merely referred to the fact that parties – based on their own free will – may enter into such agreement. However the new Labor Code contains explicit regulations under title XVIII of the Act as “Particular Agreements Related to Employment”.
The “agreement on non-competition” belongs to the field of employment law. Unlike the previous Labor Code that categorized this possible agreement as of purely civil law in nature, the new Labor Code declares it to belong under the scope of the Labor Code. The previous regulation even ordered the provisions of the Civil Code to be applied to such agreements however the new legislation brought a conceptual change.
The currently effective regulation provides for a 2-year limitation on such conduct on the employee’s part that would create competition with the employer. The exact amount of the consideration payable for this obligation remains to be decided by the parties however the Labor Code suggests that it shall be based on how difficult the applied restrictions make it for the employee to find another job with his qualifications and experience. As a basic limit the law provides that the amount shall not be less than one-third of the base wage payable for the same period of time.
The “agreement on non-competition” is not to be confused with similar legal institutions. The paper points out two close similarities in the legal system. One being the employee’s obligation of confidentiality; this prevails after termination of the employment relationship as well without any time or similar restrictions and even without any financial compensation. The other one is the so called “non-compete” agreement from the field of competition law. This is applicable after takeovers where the seller shall refrain from engaging into business in the same area as the buyer.
In the field of labor law the time period for the “agreement on non-competition” is up to the agreement of the parties however the new law invokes an upper limit of two years that is following the termination of the employment relationship. This is a decrease from the previous regulation that provided for a period of three years. The agreement can be modified by the consent of both parties just like the employment contract or civil law agreements.
In case of violation of the agreement three cases are to be analyzed. The first is the case of the employee breaching the provisions of the contract. In this case the employee is liable for damages towards his/her former employer. The provisions of the new Civil Code and those of the Labor Code are to be applied to the damages. In the second case the employer may request an injunction to prohibit the employee from any conduct breaching the agreement while the third case involves the breach of the agreement on the employee’s part for which the rules of the Civil Code and the Labor Code are to be applied as well.
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Unilateral determination of working time in the effective regulations of labor law
63-80Views:228In most cases, law does not differentiate between various people in equal-level positions of a contract; during sales, the State has the same rights and obligations as the contracting private person. Labor law is a specific field of law where one of the parties that are theoretically on equal level – i.e. the employee – is actually in a somewhat subordinated and obviously more exposed position. In the light of the foregoing, it is especially notable that there are some fields of labor right where the third way applies; parties are not equally positioned in terms of power; however, it is not the employee who gets legal assistance for the equality of opportunities, but the law itself supports their disadvantaged position. Such situation is called the legal situation of unilateral power, and we aim to study to what extent it is present in Hungarian labor law and how advantageous or disadvantageous this it to the parties. The field of law where one is likely to detect the traces of unilateral power is the legal regulation related to working time, which, therefore, is the subject of this study, and the definition of working time will hereinafter be looked into from the aspect of the employer’s unilateral right to establish employment. Unilateral power is basically not typical to be enforced in labor law, and therefore, working time-related regulations – that belong to the employer’s own discretion – form an exception in such respect. At the same time, the option of flexible work order provides an exception from the superiority of unilateral power, and therefore it is actually an exception to the exception. Such complex system, however, provides the option to make sure whether the enforcement of unilateral power is constructive in labor law, or it would be more reasonable to apply a more balanced system such as the principle of the employer’s ultima ratio as suggested by Guy Davidov. While noting that according to those described above, flexible work order poses some potential risks, too, in our opinion, it would be more efficient and social to set up a consensus-based system, which would also allow us to satisfy our obligation of European Union legal harmonization. Hungarian legislation, and labor law legislation in particular has numerous tasks to do in order to promote the solution of socio-economic problems, as well as to fulfill our obligations related to legal harmonization; in our opinion, the conclusions above confirm that making working time regulations more liberal is one of the major tasks of legislation.
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Healthcare professional’s liability for damages
45-53Views:177The doctor-patient relationship requires set rules for liability considering the nature of professional norms on medicine and the protection of human life and health. According to these rules, the healthcare provideris vicariously liable for damages suffered as a consequence of healthcare servicesprovided to the patient. In such cases– on the grounds of labor law rules – the healthcare providermay transfer liability to its employee. Considering recent amendments of labor law regulations, it is essential to summarize and analyze relevant labor law norms relatedto medical liability.
The employee’s liability for damages is based on the employment relationship between the healthcare provider and the employee. Despite of the healthcare provider’s liability for damages, the employee’s liability is always personal.
According to the new labor code the employee’s liability for damages is only ascertainable if the tortfeasor did not act like a reasonable person would have actedunder given circumstances. This means that the tortfeasor’sintention or negligence is irrelevant in the course of ascertaining liability. The purpose of our study is to provide a review of the strict measure of due care in health care services, and to summarize rules about the healthcare professional’s liability for damages.
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Possibilities of workplace mediation in the European Union
1-13.Views:374The world of labor market and industrial relations is a field where conflicts and disputes are inevitable characteristics of the operation, regardless of the form of employment. Also, labor disputes appear both from an individual aspect, where the disputants are the employer and the employee, and in a collective respect, where the disputes take place between the employer(s) and the collective of the workers, typically represented by an employee organization (union) or a works council.
When a conflict or a dispute cannot be resolved through negotiation, the law offers dispute resolution mechanisms for the participants. Therefore, several legal mechanisms have been evolved in order to resolve disputes, starting from the classical form of litigation, where a court determines the end of the dispute by its judgement, and other alternative forms of dispute resolution, such as arbitration, mediation and conciliation, where the parties can reach a decision or a settlement outside of the judicial system of the state.
EU Member States have introduced various legislative rules for labor dispute resolution covering all manner of individual and collective disputes. ADR schemes are also supported by the ILO, as the ILO Recommendation No. 92 (1951) suggests that voluntary conciliation should be made available to assist in the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes between employers and workers. Within the aegis of the European Union, several instruments have emerged with the attempt to elaborate the basic principles for the operation of ADR schemes in the context of cases between businesses and consumers. The Directive 2013/11/EU on alternative dispute resolution for consumer disputes (the “ADR Directive”) and Regulation (EU) No 524/2013 on online dispute resolution for consumer disputes (the “ODR Regulation”) ensured that consumers could turn to quality alternative dispute resolution entities for all kinds of contractual disputes with traders, and established an EU-wide online platform for consumer disputes that arise from online transactions with traders.
Workplace mediation is widely and successfully utilized in the USA for solely employment purposes both in the private and the public sector. Also, in the United States is a “employment at will” doctrine prevails, that basically means – unless stipulated to the contrary by the parties – the employment relationship can be terminated with immediate effect without any justification (just cause), thus workers do not have access to legal remedies as in the EU where the statutory laws provide a broad protection against arbitrary or unjust termination. Mediation, however, provide an effective solution for employees and workers, even if situated outside the protective scope of labor law.
While the role of customer/consumer ADR and mediation is increasing throughout the whole European Union, workplace and employment mediation still constitutes a “grey zone”. In many of the legal instruments of the EU and also in several products of the national legislations, consumers and workers are treated with the same legal awareness, thus protective laws compensate their weaker position in their legal relationships, but as far as the utilization and access of dispute resolution schemes are concerned, a significant but not always reasonable differentiation can be detected. Also, while mediation is an available tool for individual employment matters, still has not been utilized considerably, and remained an instrument only to resolve mostly collective conflicts. Therefore, the aim of this paper to present various styles of mediations from a comparative perspective, to express their biggest advantages and to highlight the areas where mediation could be more suitable to use in the context of the individual disputes of the workplace.
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The legal consequences of the unlawful termination of the employment relationship by the employer in the light of Act I of 2012 on the Labor Code
125-144Views:91Highlighting the consequences of the illegal termination of the employment by the employer, the thesis presents its recent short historical background, development direction, current regulation – mainly the Act I of 2012 on the Labor Code (Mt.) 82. § (1), (2) and (4)
paragraphs –, especially the practical application of the judicial experience accumulated over more than ten years. The thesis covers the legal basis of the labor law claims presented against the employer's decisions in question, as well as the summativeness of the issues, calling for help the case decisions of the higher courts, i.e. either the judgment boards or the Kúria, made in similar matters, which can be considered as guidelines in the application of the law. -
Does the Ebktv. provide adequate protection on the labor market for child-raising? Equal employment of pregnant women and parents in Hungary
47-60.Views:229In the recent years, there were several government programs in Hungary aiming to boost the number of childbirths, mainly through direct financial support for parents. But undertaking the commitment to raise a child is not just a financial issue for parents, and especially women. The work – life balance is just as important for many, especially for college-educated ones.
My paper aims to examine the legal framework of the equal treatment focused on the abovementioned situation, about how it can prevent the discrimination of pregnant women and parents in the workforce. I briefly look at the legal development of the area in the European Union, and the most relevant issues and procedural questions in the Hungarian Act CXXV of 2003 on equal treatment and the promotion of equal opportunities. For the main part of the paper, I focus on the case law of the Equal Treatment Authority, on how certain conducts (direct or indirect discrimination, harassment, victimization) surface in relation to childbearing and child raising, how did the Authority decide in these cases, and how do these decisions affect the practice of this field. The Kúria is also a substantial actor in this area, as the highest court in the country, its binding uniformity decisions hold significant weight for the law of equal treatment, therefore I examine some of its important decisions.
In the end, I summarize my findings. In today’s labor market, pregnant women and parents face discrimination, this is especially true for pregnant women on probationary period. Employers feel burdened if an employee gets pregnant, and in some cases, they still try to lay off women who do not put their career ahead of family. Overall, I conclude that the legal framework is satisfactory, but several underlying social issues will continue to generate obstacles if the employers’ and society’s view about motherhood and roles in the family will not change.
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Specialities of public works in criminal law as a punishment
Views:56In Hungary there are two types of punishments: principal punishments and supplementary punishments. I examined the labour in the public interest, which is one of the principal punishments. Judges use this punishment barely than imprisonment, fine. Difficult to use this punishment, because it needs many preliminary works. I examined the labour in the public interest’s ruling from the 1950.:II. Criminal Code of General Part to nowadays.
In Hungary a person sentenced to labor in the public interest is obligated to perform the work defined for him in the court sentence. Only such work may be ordered as work in the public interest which the convict, in light of his health condition and education, is presumed to be capable of performing. There are many problems in rule of the labour in the public interest, for example one day of work in the public. As rule of the Criminal Code punishment shall be six hours of work, but other rule is, punishment shall be 4-8 hours of work for one day.
Other interesting rule is, the imprisonment substituting labour in the public interest or the remaining part thereof shall be established in such a way that one day of labour in the public interest shall correspond to one day of imprisonment. In my opinion it would be better, if the imprisonment substituting labour in the public interest or the remaining part thereof shall be established in fine.
On the other hand I suggested to use this punishment if a person younger than 18 years old. I think if a person is 16 years old, this punishment can be more effective than other punishments.
I found many differences, and many similarities between Hungarian and international Criminal Codes, Propositions, and finally I wrote some important, new point to change the rules.
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Comparison between the requirements of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the Hungarian judicial practice in terms of equal treatment and/or the breach of thereof in the field of labor law
Views:236Employment and occupation are crucial to ensuring equal opportunities for all and in large measure contribute to the full participation of citizens in economic, social and culture life. However, many cases of discrimination have been identified in the field of employment and the labour market.
In this study I try to examine how the equal treatment works in the EU Law and Hungarian national law, and I try to present the case-law of the European Court of Justice and the Hungarian Courts in this area. The first part of the study deals with the definition of key concepts (direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment), and include its legal background – with respect to the directives of the European Parliament and the Council, and the Hungarian legislation. The second part tries to describe the legal concept of indirect discrimination, mentioned as justification (statutory derogation, objective justification). And finally I try to present the special burden of proof, which is used in discrimination cases.
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Fundamental, labor law and human resource management approach of the judical workload and case allocation
5-44Views:95In my study I try to walk around the topic of the judical workload and case allocation, which raises a lot of principle questions. The fundamental approach makes me to examine the Constitution and the human resource management factor too: what kind of correlations can we find between the workload and the fundamental rights. In my oppinion the connection point is the motivation, incentive management.