Temporary help is being given to businesses and their employees. The legislation, which will only be binding for a temporary period, has been signed by the President and will come into force 14 days after it is published in the Journal of Laws.

It will allow all businesses to:

  • extend to up to 12 months the period used for calculating their employees' average working time
  • introduce individual working time schedules for particular employees, with different hours of starting and finishing work on consecutive days
  • offer employees consecutive fixed-term employment contracts for up to 24 months in total

There are also measures to help employers who have suffered a significant economic deterioration since 1 July 2008, including:

  • introducing a temporary 'economic stoppage' during which employees only receive limited pay
  • decreasing employees' working time for up to 6 months
  • applying to the Labour Fund or the Guaranteed Employment Benefits Fund for financial aid to mitigate the effects of the crisis

To show that they have suffered a significant economic deterioration since 1 July 2008, businesses must be able to show that they:

  • regularly pay taxes
  • transfer social security premiums and other contributions due to the relevant authorities
  • do not qualify for insolvency procedures
  • have developed appropriate remedies to combat their economic problems.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

Law-Now information is for general purposes and guidance only. The information and opinions expressed in all Law-Now articles are not necessarily comprehensive and do not purport to give professional or legal advice. All Law-Now information relates to circumstances prevailing at the date of its original publication and may not have been updated to reflect subsequent developments.

The original publication date for this article was 11/08/2009.