Salary
An employee has a guaranteed minimum pay for his/her work, which is set pursuant to the principles and the procedure provided for in the Minimum Wage Act. If, however, a higher minimum salary has been set in collective labour agreements or the remuneration rules and procedures, then the employer is obligated to respect such agreements in place of the act. Apart from his/her basic pay, an employee may receive different allowances. Granting the latter is justified by special circumstances pertaining to the kind of work or skills of an individual employee. Additional remuneration can be divided into the obligatory ones (e.g., extra pay for working overtime, extra pay for working at night), and the optional ones (e.g., extra pay for working shifts, service premiums). An employee can also be awarded different kinds of awards and bonuses.
Maximum Working Week
The working time may not exceed eight hours a day and forty hours in an average five-day working week in an accepted settlement period, which does not exceed four months. The legislator has introduced a possibility to shorten or extend the settlement period and the working time in a day in accordance with the cases defined in the Labour Code.
Overtime
The weekly working time together with the overtime may not, however, exceed forty-eight hours in the accepted settlement period on average. In the case of a yearly limit, the Labour Code states that, for an employee, the number of overtime hours may not exceed one hundred and fifty hours in a calendar year. If the employer is not obligated by a collected labour agreement or by work rules and procedures, it is acceptable to define another (higher) number of overtime hours in a calendar year. A maximum yearly number of overtime hours depend on the need to maintain the maximum weekly number of working hours (on average, forty-eight hours per week in an average settlement period).
Employer’s Obligation to Provide a Healthy and Safe Workplace
The employer is obliged to protect the health and well-being of employees by ensuring conditions of health and safety at work, through the appropriate use of the achievements of science and technology. In particular, the employees’ main duties in the field of health and safety in the workplace include: being familiar with the provisions and principles of health and safety at work, participation in training sessions and briefings in this field, compliance with the instructions and directives issued by superiors, undergoing initial and periodic medical examinations, check-ups and other medical examinations as recommended, and co-operation with the employer and superiors in the performance of duties concerning health and safety at work.
Complaint Procedures
In case of breach of health and safety rules, employees can submit their objections to the health and safety at work service operating at the workplace. If the health and safety at work service does not take appropriate action, or if there is no health and safety at work service at the workplace, employees can submit their objections to the State Labour Inspection, which can penalise the employer. Employees cannot be discriminated due to the fact of submitting their objections to the health and safety at work service or the State Labour Inspection.