The right to suitable and improved working conditions and protection against unfavourable treatment

Starting from 1 August, employees have the right to request suitable working conditions from their employer. Improved working conditions are also guaranteed for workers returning from child leave. From 1 April, employees are able to apply to their employer for ways to reconcile work and family life, including flexible working arrangements. All this will allow workers to better reconcile work and family life and find the necessary balance.

The right of employees to request suitable working conditions includes, for example, the right to request an open-ended employment contract instead of a fixed-term employment contract, or full-time employment instead of part-time employment. Upon receiving a request for suitable working conditions, the employer must consider whether the requests to change the working conditions are reasonably compatible with the interests of the employer’s company. Although the employer has no obligation to provide suitable working conditions, the purpose of the law is to try to find a solution that satisfies both the employee and the employer. If the employer refuses to change the working conditions, the employer must also provide the reasons for the refusal to the employee in a format that can be reproduced in writing, within 14 calendar days of receiving the request. The above-mentioned amendments result in additional obligations for the employer, which can be quite burdensome depending on the size of the company’s staff. In order to protect the interests of the employer, it is therefore stipulated that if the employee submits more than one application for suitable working conditions within four months, the employer is only obliged to respond to one of the applications.

The current law states that upon termination of maternity leave, a woman has the right to use the improved working conditions which she would have been entitled to during her absence. Starting from August, the law affords the same right to persons returning to work from other types of child leave (including paternity leave, parental leave and child leave) or after the end of care leave. This means, for example, that employees have the right to request a wage increase if they would have been entitled to a wage increase while working.

In order to promote gender equality, employees have the right to seek options from their employer to reconcile work and family life, including flexible working arrangements, to which employers must respond within a reasonable period. For instance, employees may request part-time or flexible working hours or the possibility of teleworking. If the employee does not grant the request or postpones introducing flexible working conditions, the employer must provide reasons for the refusal within 15 working days of receiving the request.

In addition, the new wording of the law provides protection against the unfavourable treatment of employees in situations where they:

• exercise their rights (e.g. requesting suitable working conditions or claiming compensation for overtime);
• draw attention to the violation of their rights (e.g. violation of working and rest time requirements), or
• support other employees in defending their rights (e.g. when a trustee points out that the employer fails to grant the employee proper working conditions).

The employer must not impose unfavourable consequences on the employee based on these actions. To identify possible unfavourable treatment, the current situation of the employee is compared with their previous situation (and not with that of other employees with similar positions), and protection is granted to all employees regardless of the presence of protected characteristics (e.g. gender or nationality). Protection against unfavourable treatment also involves the prohibition on terminating the employment contracts of employees because they requested flexible or suitable working conditions or the provision of mandatory information.