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May the employer automatically implement temperature checking of employees upon their arrival to work? If an employee has a fever, whose obligation is it to get the individual home?
The employer is obliged to check that the employee is fit for work. Thus, if appropriate, the employer is entitled to check the employees’ temperatures upon their arrival to work in compliance with effective legislation on restriction of personal rights. This means that pursuant to Section 2 of Article 9 of the Labor Code, employees’ personal rights may be restricted if the restrictions are absolutely necessary due to reasons directly related to the purpose of employment and are proportionate to the objectives they serve. Employees shall be notified of the methods, circumstances and expected duration of restrictions on personal rights to be implemented, as well as the circumstances that justify the necessity and proportionality of the restrictions.
However, when employees arrive at work, checking cannot include examinations and measures governed by occupational health and epidemic-related legislation. If the controls reveal the likelihood that an employee is not fit for work or a fever is detected upon arrival, the prescriptions of the Ministry for National Economy Decree No. 33/1998 (24 June) on the medical examination and opinion of job, professional, and personal hygienic suitability or the effective epidemic-related legislation shall be complied with.
The Labor Code does not regulate how the employee gets home. As commuting time does not constitute part of working hours, it is not the employer’s, but the employee’s responsibility. Pursuant to Section 2 of Article 51 of the Labor Code, if the employee incurs extra expenditure by the unplanned journey home, the employer is obliged to reimburse the employee’s extra costs justifiably incurred in the interest of performing the employment relationship. However, if the collective agreement regulates such situations, that shall be taken into consideration.
Source: ITM [Ministry for Innovation and Technology] Secretariat for Employment Policy
However, when employees arrive at work, checking cannot include examinations and measures governed by occupational health and epidemic-related legislation. If the controls reveal the likelihood that an employee is not fit for work or a fever is detected upon arrival, the prescriptions of the Ministry for National Economy Decree No. 33/1998 (24 June) on the medical examination and opinion of job, professional, and personal hygienic suitability or the effective epidemic-related legislation shall be complied with.
The Labor Code does not regulate how the employee gets home. As commuting time does not constitute part of working hours, it is not the employer’s, but the employee’s responsibility. Pursuant to Section 2 of Article 51 of the Labor Code, if the employee incurs extra expenditure by the unplanned journey home, the employer is obliged to reimburse the employee’s extra costs justifiably incurred in the interest of performing the employment relationship. However, if the collective agreement regulates such situations, that shall be taken into consideration.
Source: ITM [Ministry for Innovation and Technology] Secretariat for Employment Policy