Forums For Adjudicating Employment Disputes
Municipal civil courts have the jurisdiction for most of the claims relating to employment. There is only one specialised Labour Court on a municipal level, and it handles labour law disputes in Zagreb metropolitan area. Jurisdiction regarding the lawfulness of strikes and lockout is given to the county courts.
The Main Sources Of Employment Law
In Croatia the main source of employment law is the Labour Act which is accompanied by Work Safety Act, Labour Market Act, Act on Suppression of Undeclared Work and various acts regarding social welfare of the employees (Pension Insurance Act, Compulsory Health Insurance Act etc.), European Law (such as Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I)), Collective Agreements, Employment Rulebooks, individual Employment Agreements, and decisions. As for the employee, principle is that if a certain right is regulated differently in different sources of law (i.e., in Labour Act and in individual employment agreement), the regulation which is the most favourable for the employee will be applied.
National Law And Employees Working For Foreign Companies
A national law is applicable if the parties of an employment agreement choose Croatian law or in other cases when it is applicable by law. If the parties choose foreign law as applicable, that law would apply, as long as it is not depriving the employee of the protection afforded to them by provisions that cannot be derogated from by an agreement under the law that would have been applicable (employee habitually carries out work, place of business in which the employee was engaged is situated) in case that the applicable law was not chosen.
National Law And Employees Of National Companies Working In Another Jurisdiction
National law would be applicable when an employee is working in another jurisdiction, if the parties of the employment agreement chose Croatian law as the applicable law. If there was no choice of law, Croatian law could be applied as place of business where the employee was engaged, if the applicable law could not be determined by a place of habitual carrying of work.
Data privacy
The employer is allowed to process certain personal data, in connection to employment, of the employees. General principles of the General Data Protection Regulation apply.
Legal Requirements As To The Form Of Agreement
Agreements should be concluded in writing, however if concluded orally they will not be found null and void. If an agreement is oral, an employer is obligated to issue a written confirmation of the agreement before the beginning of work. It is possible to electronically sign an agreement by using a qualified electronic signature for it to be considered a validly executed employment agreement.
Mandatory Requirements
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Trial Period
Trial Periods can be agreed upon when concluding an employment agreement for a period of up to six (6) months. However, it can be agreed that the trial period will be prolonged if the employee was temporarily absent from work during the trial period (e.g., due to a sick leave, maternity or parental leave, etc.). Such prolongation should be proportionate to the time during which the employee was absent from work so that overall duration of the trial period does not exceed six (6) months. If an employee fails to comply with the requirements for the specific workplace, that qualifies as justified grounds for termination of the employment agreement. Notice period, in this case, is at least one (1) week.
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Hours Of Work
Full-time working hours cannot be longer than 40 hours per week. Unless otherwise agreed in the employment agreement, collective bargaining agreement, or agreement concluded between works council and the employer, it is deemed that employees employed on full-time bases are obliged to work 40 hours per week. Everything above full-time working hours is overtime. The employee is free to conclude an additional employment agreement with another employer for the maximum of additional eight (8) hours per week but needs to notify its employer of such work. Employees need to observe the rules on statutory non-compete when concluding agreements for additional work with other employers.
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Special Rules For Part-time Work
Part-time work is considered to be everything below full-time working hours, however, the employee cannot be working for several employers for more than 40 hours per week. When entering into an agreement with each employer the employee needs to notify the employer about their other current part-time employment agreements. If for acquiring certain rights from an employment agreement previous length of the employment is of importance, then the periods of part-time work for the same employer will be deemed as full-time work. The earnings and other material rights of the employee will be determined and paid in proportion to the agreed working hours unless otherwise regulated by a collective agreement, employment rulebook, or employment agreement. The employer is obliged to consider the request of an employee to work part-time or full-time but is not obliged to accommodate such request (only to provide a reasoned written response). A part-time employee must have the same working conditions as a full-time employee in a comparable situation. The employer is obliged to provide training and education to part-time employees under the same conditions as to full-time employees.
Hours of work must be shortened when it is not possible to protect the employees (even after all safety and protective measures are implemented) from harmful effects. This shortening of working hours must be in proportion to the harmful effects of working conditions to the health and working capacity of the employees. These types of jobs and working hours are determined by special regulations. The employee who is working on one (1) of these jobs cannot be working for longer hours than specified by the regulation and cannot be working for several employers. Such part-time work will be equal to full-time work when actualising the employees’ rights from employment or in connection to employment.
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Earnings
The earnings can be determined by (almost) all sources of employment law. If the salary has not been determined, the employer shall pay to the employee the appropriate salary. Appropriate salary is the amount that is usually paid for equal work. If it is not possible to determine the usually paid salary for such work, the salary will be declared by the court based on the circumstances of each case.
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Holidays/Rest Periods
Employees are entitled to at least four (4) weeks of paid annual leave, in case that the employees have not been working the whole year they have the right to pro-rata annual leave. The rest period of 30 minutes is granted to every employee working at least six (6) hours a day. Daily rest is at least 12 hours of continuous rest in a 24-hour period. Weekly rest is continuous 24 hours each week to which daily rest is added.
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Minimum/Maximum Age
The minimum age for entering an employment is 15. If the person is attending obligatory elementary education and is older than 15 and younger than 18 then that person also cannot be employed. Maximum working age is not prescribed by law.
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Illness/Disability
In case of temporary incapacity for work, the employee is obliged to notify the employer as soon as possible and deliver a certificate from the doctor regarding their incapacity and expected duration within three (3) days. There is a ban on terminating the employment in case of temporary incapacity due to work-related injury or professional illness during healing, i.e., the recovery. The employees who were temporary incapacitated for work for the above reasons have the right to be reinstalled on the jobs they were performing before the injury, business related illness or illness. If those are not available, the employer must offer an employment agreement for a similar job.
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Location Of Work/Mobility
The location of work is a mandatory element of each employment agreement. The employer has the right to determine closely the place of work, bearing in mind the rights and dignity of the employee. Also, the employer must ensure appropriate working conditions for its employees. There is a possibility to agree that the employees will be working remotely (for jobs that are preformed exclusively through ICT) or from their homes. These types of work arrangements require that employment agreements contain certain mandatory provisions.
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Pension Plans
There is a mandatory pension insurance in which the employer has to allocate a certain part of each monthly salary for each employee. This amount is taken out of the gross income amount. There are additional voluntary pension funds in which the employee alone, or in agreement with the employer, can invest.
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Parental Rights (Pregnancy/ Maternity/ Paternity/ Adoption)
Croatian employees are entitled to several parenthood related rights, including maternity leave, paternity leave, parental leave, etc. Maternity leave is activated 28 days before expected birth (in some cases, 45 days before expected birth) by child’s mother and can last for the first six (6) months after childbirth (at least 70 days of maternity leave must be used directly after the childbirth ). Paternity leave can be used anytime since the childbirth and during the following six (6) months, in duration of 10 days for 1 child or 15 days in case of twins, triplets, etc. Parental leave can be used by both parents, or by only one parent. Its usage can start 6 months after childbirth, and it can be used anytime until child’s eighth (8) birthday. Duration of the parental leave depends on the number of children in the family and on the fact whether only one parent uses the parental leave, or it is used evenly by both parents. Following that, parental leave lasts for four (4) months, if used evenly by both parents after birth of first (1) and second (2) child, or 15 months if used evenly by both parents after birth of twins or for third (3) and any subsequent child. If parental leave is used predominantly by one (1) parent, parental leave lasts for six (6) months, if used after birth of first (1) and second (2) child, or 28 months if used after birth of twins or for third (3) and any subsequent child. The other parent always has the right to use the remaining 2 months of parental leave. In addition, the employees have the right to an adoption leave in duration of six (6) months after adoption of a child up to 18 years old. If twins or more children are adopted at the same time, or the adoptee is a third (3) child in the family or if a single adoptee has special needs, this leave is prolonged for additional 60 days for each adopted child.
The employer cannot refuse to employ women due to pregnancy. Furthermore, pregnant women, women who have given birth and women who are breastfeeding cannot be offered a changed employment agreement with less favourable conditions. The employer cannot terminate pregnant women, parents while using any of the rights related to parenthood nor in a period of 15 days as of parent’s return to work.
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Compulsory Terms
Employment agreements or a written confirmation on employment agreement has to have data for identification of the contracting parties, place of work or a remark that the work will be executed in different places or remotely/from home, details of the work position, or shortlist or description of work tasks, start date, note whether the employment is for a definite or an indefinite term, duration of annual leave or description on how it will be determined, termination procedure and notice periods, basic gross salary and schedule of payments, duration of working day or week and whether such work is full-time or part-time work, right to education, trial period. For certain specific types of employment agreements, there are special terms that need to be included.
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Non-Compulsory Terms
The parties of an employment agreement can agree to any other terms, most notably, post-contractual non-compete and non-solicitation clauses. In any case, if the agreed terms are less favourable, then the ones provided by other sources of employment law will be applied.
Types Of Agreement
Employment agreements can be fixed-term agreements or agreements for an indefinite period. Also, the Labour Act recognizes several categories of special employment agreements, such as employment agreements of seasonal employees, employment agreements for additional work and employment agreements concluded with temporary employment agencies.
Secrecy/Confidentiality
Act on the Protection of Unpublished Information with Market Value can be applicable in some cases. Furthermore, based on the Labour Act, inventions have to be kept as a business secret and cannot be shared with a third person without the employers’ approval. Further confidentiality and secrecy provisions can be agreed.
Ownership of Inventions/Other Intellectual Property (IP) Rights
The employee is obligated to inform their employer regarding an invention made at work or in connection with work. This invention must be kept as a business secret. The invention belongs to the employer, and the employee has the right to a reward as prescribed by a collective agreement, employment agreement, or special agreement. If a reward has not been prescribed or agreed, the court will decide on the appropriate reward. If the invention is in connection with the employers’ business and is not accomplished at work or in connection to work, the employee is obligated to notify the employer and offer the transfer of rights to this invention. The employer must respond to the offer within one (1) month. The employer has pre-emption right regarding the transfer of the invention. The same applies to technical developments if used by the employer. All the inventions and technical developments of the appointed employees belong to the beneficiary of the appointed employees, and appointed employees have the right to a reward for their inventions as well.
Pre-Employment Considerations
There is no statutory obligation to perform certain pre-employment considerations (with some exceptions in regulated professions). However, if the employer has enacted a systematization of work positions, it should not hire a person that does not possess the prescribed qualifications. It should be noted that when choosing a future employee, the employer cannot ask employee to disclose data which is not in direct correlation with the employment relationship, and the potential employee is not obliged to answer these questions.
Hiring Non-Nationals
When hiring citizens of the European Economic Area there are no limitations except for the need to register a temporary stay in the case that the employee is residing in Croatia for longer than three (3) months. However, when hiring third-country national (non-EEA citizens) there is a need to obtain a residence and work permit or a certificate on registered work (the certificate is issued only for described work and one employer). In some cases, before filing a request for residence and work permit the employer has to request a labour market test to establish whether this employee is needed on the market. There is a list of jobs for which the mentioned test is not needed. Employees can work without residence and work permit and certificate if they have a regulated temporary stay in Croatia based on different grounds, and/or an EU blue card. Also, persons granted temporary protection in Croatia can work in Croatia without a need to obtain residence and work permit.
Hiring Specified Categories Of Individuals
An employer who has more than 20 employees has to employ, on the appropriate work position with appropriate work conditions, a certain number of persons with disabilities. Special provisions are set out protecting special groups of employees, as previously mentioned – i.e., pregnant women.
Outsourcing And/Or Sub-Contracting/Temporary Agency Work
Outsourcing and Sub-contracting are not regulated by law.
The temporary employment agencies need to be registered with the Ministry of Labour. Only such agencies can offer temporary employment agency services on Croatian market. Such agencies conclude special employment agreements with employees and separate agreements with the beneficiaries of their services. Beneficiaries can use the work of same temporary employee for a maximum of three (3) years (some limited exceptions apply). Also, beneficiaries cannot use services of temporary employment agencies to replace employees who were terminated due to business reasons or in a collective redundancy procedure for six (6) months after terminations.