Practice areas
Employment law
Our employment work concentrates at two ends: the everyday documents, which simply have to be right, and the large interventions, such as reorganisation, collective redundancy or exiting an executive, where a mistake can no longer be fixed cheaply.
- Employment contracts, executive service agreements, non-compete and confidentiality agreements in Hungarian and English
- Employment policies, internal procedures and atypical forms of employment
- Legal support for collective redundancies and full workforce reorganisation
- Preparing terminations, summary dismissals and mutual termination agreements
- Representation in labour litigation and in proceedings before the authorities
- Employment of foreign nationals, and work and residence permits for third-country nationals
Describe the matter in a few sentences. We reply within one working day with what we need for the next step.
Representative matters
Representation of and advice to a Mexican-owned cement company on the employment contracts of senior staff, legal support for a full workforce reorganisation, and representation in labour litigation.
Representation of a Croatian and American-owned pharmaceutical company in a collective redundancy, and advice on drafting employment policies and labour law documents.
Advising a company in the telecommunications sector on employment policies, atypical agreements and labour disputes.
Employment law advice for a Scandinavian and German company distributing automatic entrance systems, and preparation of labour documents (employment contract, termination, mutual termination agreement, non-compete) in Hungarian and English.
Advice and representation for multinational companies on the employment of foreign nationals.
Work permit procedures for Hungarian companies employing third-country nationals.
Questions clients ask us
Are non-compete agreements enforceable in Hungary?
Yes, but only if it is agreed in writing for the period after the employment ends, is limited in time, and the employer pays consideration for it. The consideration and the breadth of the restriction are assessed against each other: a blanket ban covering every activity typically does not survive a court challenge.
What has to be watched in a collective redundancy?
The employer is bound by the sequence: prior information and consultation with the works council or employee representatives, notification to the state employment authority, and only then service of the notices. Getting the order wrong makes the terminations unlawful in itself, however sound the business rationale was.
Can a Hungarian company employ a third-country national?
Yes, after the permit procedure has been completed. Obtaining the work and residence permit is a joint exercise for employer and employee: the employment contract, the filings and the permit application have to be consistent with each other, because discrepancies between them are the most common ground for refusal.