- Rules for the application of OHS provisions to persons under civil contracts
From the employer's point of view, concluding a civil law contract is often very practical. At first glance, many obligations resulting from labor law provisions depart. But is it really so? Employed under civil law contracts may not enjoy the privileges of legal protection of work resulting from the provisions of the Labor Code. However, they are entitled to safe and hygienic working conditions. The scope of application of health and safety regulations to employees based on civil law contracts is not as clear as in the case of employees. Therefore, it is worth knowing the necessary minimum in this matter - before ensuring the proper level of safety is verified by the inspector of the National Labor Inspectorate.- The managerial role of the employer (3)
- General characteristics of civil contracts (3)
- The basic obligations of the employer in the field of health and safety (4)
- Medical examination (5)
- Workwear and footwear (5)
- Personal protection equipment (6)
- Communication of hazard information (6)
- Notification of a serious, collective or fatal accident (7)
- The role of social labor inspection (7)
- The role of the National Labor Inspectorate (8)
- Doubts regarding the health and safety training of contractors
The rule is that the employee must not be allowed to perform work for which he or she does not have the required qualifications or the necessary skills, as well as sufficient knowledge of the provisions and principles of occupational health and safety. This is related to the obligation to provide health and safety training. Doubts regarding compulsory training may arise when the employer, apart from employees, also employs persons under civil law contracts. In many cases, such training will be necessary, and the lack of it will be questioned by the social supervision of working conditions or the inspector of the National Labor Inspectorate. In what situations is it necessary to provide OHS training to people under civil contracts?- Qualifications, skills and knowledge of regulations (9)
- The legitimacy or the obligation of training (10)
- Training principles (11)
- Responsibility for an offense and a crime (11)
- Readers' questions
- What are the hours of the contractor's initial training (13)
A person employed on the basis of a mandate contract is not an employee and therefore the principle that OSH training should take place during working hours and at the employer's expense does not apply to him. In the case of an employee employed on the basis of a civil law contract, it can be considered that an acceptable procedure will be to organize training outside the established working hours - without the right to remuneration.
- What are the hours of the contractor's initial training (13)
- Court case law
- Sick leave and performance of the order - there will be no sickness benefit (14)
The purpose of granting a sick leave is to enable a person unable to work to undertake the treatment process, which entails the necessity to refrain from performing any paid work. Therefore, the submission of a medical certificate to the employer by a sick person and performance of gainful employment for another entity (e.g. the client) during the period covered by the sick leave is misleading the pension authority as to the circumstances which determine the right to sickness benefit.
- Sick leave and performance of the order - there will be no sickness benefit (14)
- Contract for specific work and contract of mandate - not only the National Labor Inspectorate, but also the Social Insurance Institution conducts inspections
Why does the Social Insurance Institution deal with the concluded contracts for specific work, since there is no obligation to pay contributions to these contracts? There is only one answer to this question - precisely because they are exempt from contributions. Many employers consciously and purposefully enter into contracts for specific work in order to avoid the costs of paying contributions. The Social Insurance Institution counteracts this by controlling activities. The article cites numerous court decisions, which, however, are not uniform in this respect. After all, it is not the name of the contract that is concluded that defines its real character. Therefore, it is not possible to clearly indicate which contracts for specific work will definitely be questioned by the Social Insurance Institution and which will be recognized as correct.- When the Social Insurance Institution will contest the contract (15)
- Necessity to pay contributions (16)