The Ombudsman recommends the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection to amend a number of Labor Code provisions concerning the payment of the technical unemployment indemnity so as to ensure the social protection of salary earners during technical unemployment, IPN reports.
In the proposal submitted to the Ministry, the Ombudsman says that he was informed about deficiencies related to the implementation of the legislation concerning payment for justified absences from work following the measures taken by employers for preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Even if the Labor Code provides that the technical unemployment indemnity for employees cannot be lower than 50% of the base salary, this guarantee is not valid when the individual work contract is suspended. Under Article 77 letter c) of the Labor Code, in case of technical unemployment, the individual work contract is suspended with the consent of the parties, which is stated in writing.
The Ombudsman noted that in such circumstances, it is not clear how the technical unemployment indemnity is provided. As a result, the given provisions can be implemented non-uniformly and erroneously. Therefore, the legislation should be made clearer.
