Home » Orban defeated, the Hungarian Constitutional Court repeals the “slavery law”

Orban defeated, the Hungarian Constitutional Court repeals the “slavery law”

by admin

Slap of the Hungarian Constitutional Court to Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Accepting the appeal lodged by the trade unions, the judges declared the so-called “slavery law” “unconstitutional”, which increases the overtime ceiling to 400 hours a year, allowing for payment of up to three years’ delay.

The court ruled that no one can be fired if they refuse overtime and that overtime must be paid within the year. Strongly supported by the Orban government, the law was approved in 2018, despite thousands of Hungarians taking to the streets to protest.

The increase in the overtime cap meant for employees, in practice, a 6-day work week, or more than 10 hours a day for 5 days of work, with no guarantee of being paid for overtime. The legislative change implemented by the Orban government was aimed at large companies, increasingly struggling to find workers in Hungary, but for the unions it was nothing more than “a slave law”, since even if overtime remained on a voluntary basis, the workers could not refuse to do them on pain of the threat of dismissal. The court ruling obliges the government to repeal the law by July.

“It is a clear defeat of the Orban government,” said Timea Szabo, president of the green party Parbeszed, one of the signatories of the appeal. The protest against the so-called ‘slavery law’ represented the catalyst for the formation of an alliance between all the democratic forces in the country, capable of challenging Orban in the next elections in 2022.

You may also like

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy