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Description

On 01 January 2023 amendments to the Labour Act (ZOR) which were passed by the Croatian government in December 2022, came into effect. A second set of provisions are to be implemented from 01 January 2024. The new rules have been implemented as amendments to the existing Labour Act, and as a new legislation titled as the Act on Elimination of Unregistered Work.

From 01 January 2024 'digital working platforms' will be recorded in the competent Ministry's register. Areas of emphasis for the forthcoming regulation on platform work include:

• Terms and conditions (content) of employment agreements.
• Use of automated management systems.
• Methods and processing of personal data.
• Independent contracting and protection of rights.
• Liability of platforms for the payment of salaries for workers working through the digital platform.

Closely linked to an area of concern for platform workers in the EU, elements introduced for the Act on Elimination of Unregistered Work includes:

• Criteria for unregistered work: (i) non-registration of the employee with mandatory social insurances, (ii) performance of work without a written employment agreement, (iii) hidden employment relationship, (iv) non-compliance with regulations on the employment of foreigners, (v) non-payment of salary add-ons and (vi) non-payment of public contributions.
• Competent ministry will maintain publicly available registers of compliant and non-compliant employers.
• Companies active in certain sectors will have to register working hours of their employees through an electronic work record system which will be maintained by the competent ministry.
• If a company engages a subcontractor for performance of certain services, then the company will be jointly liable for the payment of salaries to the subcontractors’ employees. The company may be released from such liability if it undertakes certain statutorily defined actions (e.g. requesting monthly delivery of pay slips, employee data, etc.).

Beyond regulation directly relevant to the platform economy in Croatia, Amendments to the Labour Act are as follows:

Start of employment:

1. New terms and conditions of employment have been introduced, requiring companies to update their employment agreement templates.

2. Duration and justification of entry into fixed-term contracts (FTC) have changed:

3. an individual cannot be engaged in more than three consecutive FTCs;

4. the total duration of FTCs combined should not exceed three years;
5. entry into an FTC should be justified as a necessary exception, with permanent contracts being the first method of employment when possible;
6. objective criteria permitting the use of an FTC include (1) replacement of a temporarily absent worker, and/or (2) the need for performance of work that is limited by a deadline or an event;

7. the above rules apply to successive FTCs with different but affiliated companies.

8. Rules for employees during probationary periods now include:

9. if an employee is on sick leave, maternity leave, parental or garden leave, the probation period can be extended to match the maximum period of absence, but for no longer than six months;

10. employment must be proportional to employment period where a FTC is concluded;
11. employees may request conclusion of an indefinite term employment agreement if (1) the employment period is over six months and (2) the probation period has ceased;
12. employer must consider a request for the above point within 30 days or 60 days for firms with less than 20 employees. An employee can re-request after six months.

Work-life balance:

1. Additional work outside of main employment now includes:

2. full-time work under one employer or part-time work under several employers, totalling 40 hours per week can be extended by eight hours to work for a different employer;

3. consent is not required form the 'main' employer;

4. main employers may request termination of 'extra' work for objective reasons, i.e., violation of non-compete obligations or if the 'extra' work takes place during working hours of the main employer;

5. Employees have the right to determine their place of work (e.g., work from home). If working outside of work premises more than seven days per calendar month, employees have the right to reimbursement for work costs.

6. Employers can enter an employees location of remote work for the purposes of supervising working conditions if it has been contractually agreed upon.
7. Right to disconnect has been introduced and the employer should not contact the employee outside working hours, unless (i) there is an urgent matter, (ii) this is required due to the nature of the work, or (iii) if such possibility has been envisaged under the collective agreement or individual employment agreement.
8. Employees can request part-time work if employed longer than six months and (i) have a child of up to eight years of age or (ii) provide personal care to a close family member (as defined by law). The employer should consider and, if denied, provide the employee with a written response within 15 days.
9. Salary add-ons now include a 50% increase in pay if working on a Sunday.

Corporate social responsibility

1. Two dignity protection officers must be appointed in companies with over 75 employees. The Officers will receive and investigate claims of misconduct.
2. To improve pay parity, employers are asked to provide employees with criteria for the calculation of salaries of an employee performing same or similar tasks to increase transparency and reduce gendered pay inequality, There are no fines for non-compliance.

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Additional metadata

Keywords

labour market access, undeclared work, algorithmic management, working conditions, employment status

Actors

Government

Sector

No specific sector focus

Sources

• Vlada Republike Hrvatske (29 September 2022)
• Government of the Republic of Croatia (29 September 2022)
• Naradone Novine (22 December 2022)
• Wolf Theiss (2 January 2023)
• CEE Legal Matters (7 February 2023)