A few weeks after the package is introduced, the same question comes up almost without fail: “A colleague has been given an appointment for a screening on Tuesday morning – do I have to let them go, and do I have to pay for the time?” The question is a fair one, because two things meet in it: employment law, which is about being available for work, and the benefit, whose value depends on whether the team actually gets to the doctor. This article presents the statutory starting point and the proven practical solutions – without giving employment-law advice.
- Section 55(1) of the Labour Code (Mt.) releases the employee from work for the duration of a compulsory medical examination, for which absence pay is due under Section 146(3) – an examination is compulsory if the employee must attend it under a rule applicable to the employment relationship (Mt. Section 294(1)(a)).
- An examination or screening booked through the company health insurance is voluntary, so the law does not automatically grant either release from work or pay for it – where the employer consents, pay is determined by the parties' agreement (Mt. Section 146(2)).
- In well-run programmes, the company settles the question in an internal policy: for how long, with what proof, as paid time off or time to be made up – uniformly, with shift workers in mind too.
What does the Labour Code say?
Section 55(1) of Act I of 2012 (the Hungarian Labour Code, Mt.) lists the cases in which the employee is released from the obligation to be available and to work; one of them is the duration of a compulsory medical examination. What counts as compulsory is set out in Section 294(1)(a): a medical examination that the employee must attend as required by a rule applicable to the employment relationship – including an examination prescribed in view of pregnancy. The typical example is the occupational health examination, i.e. the fitness-for-work examination required by Decree 33/1998 (VI. 24.) NM of the Minister of Welfare. Absence pay (távolléti díj) is due for this time under Section 146(3). A specialist examination, laboratory test or screening booked voluntarily from the package does not fall into this category: it is not required by law but chosen by the colleague. Therefore the law does not automatically grant either release from work or pay for it – this is the starting point, and it is worth stating it honestly in the employee guide too. A separate article of ours covers the relationship between occupational health services and company health insurance.
What solutions are there in practice?
The law does not prohibit it, it simply does not regulate the question – settling it is left to the employer. Under Section 146(2) of the Labour Code, if the employee is released from work with the employer's consent, pay for the time lost is due as agreed by the parties: this may be paid, partly paid or unpaid time off. Other tools are also familiar: leave to be granted at the employee's request (under Section 122 of the Labour Code, seven working days a year – except in the first three months of employment – must be granted at the time requested by the employee), making up the time under self-scheduled or flexible working arrangements, the working-time frame (munkaidőkeret), and absence for personal reasons deserving special consideration, which under Section 55(1) gives release from work but, under the law, no pay. HR does not need to use all of these; it needs to decide which one suits the company's working arrangements and put it in writing.
The policy: what is worth setting down?
A clear one-page internal rule is worth more than case-by-case decisions by managers – the latter inevitably create inequality, and the requirement of equal treatment under Section 12 of the Labour Code also applies to benefits. What is worth writing down:
- which occasions it applies to: specialist examinations, diagnostics and the annual screening booked from the package – and which occasions it does not apply to (for example, accompanying a family member);
- for how long: how many hours or how many occasions per appointment or per year;
- with what proof: the care coordinator's appointment confirmation or a certificate of attendance is sufficient – the employer may not ask for test results or a diagnosis, as we explain in detail in our GDPR article;
- pay: paid time off, making up the time, or a combination of the two;
- coordination: how far in advance and to whom it must be notified, and how clashes with the shift schedule are handled;
- shift workers and field staff: how they get the same opportunity if clinic hours fall within their shift.
The rule can be issued as part of the benefits policy or as a stand-alone instruction – what matters is that managers and colleagues know the same text.
Company screening day on site: during working hours, but voluntary
A separate case is when the company organises the screening programme on its own premises, during working hours. Here the time spent taking part is naturally paid, on the basis of the employer's decision – this is one of the most effective tools for increasing uptake, and we write about it in detail in the HR checklist for the annual screening programme. Two limits still apply here, however. Participation is voluntary: it is the employee who decides whether to use healthcare services; the employer cannot order participation and cannot sanction non-attendance. And the results belong to the colleague: the company receives participation statistics at most, not health data. If these two principles are also stated in the invitation, the screening day becomes a matter of trust rather than of employment law – and participation is then likely to be higher too.
Why settle the question rather than leave it unspoken?
If the question is not settled, two things happen. One is that colleagues do not book appointments because they do not know whether they will be allowed to go – and the benefit goes unused; of the seven tips in our article on uptake, this is one of the most important. The other is that managers decide differently, and the programme creates a sense of unfairness. A settled rule, by contrast, sends a visible message: the company has not only bought the package but also gives time to use it. The question of no-shows and uncancelled appointments is also related: someone who knows that the time set aside for the examination is sorted is less likely to cancel at the last minute.
What should HR do now?
We suggest three steps. First, check what the current practice and the collective agreement or existing internal instruction say – many companies already have a rule on “going to the doctor” into which the package can be fitted. Second, decide on the framework: how many occasions a year, with what pay, with what proof – and coordinate the decision with payroll, because accounting for paid time off affects them too. Third, communicate it in one paragraph in the employee guide and add it to the internal FAQ. If questions arise about the employment-law details of the policy, it is worth settling them with an employment lawyer – on the package side, we help with the information needed.
Have a question about your own company's policy? Book a free 20-minute consultation →
Sources
- Hungarian Labour Code (Mt., Act I of 2012) Section 12, Section 55(1), Section 122, Section 146(2)–(3), Section 294(1)(a) – release from work, absence pay, definition of a compulsory medical examination
- Decree 33/1998 (VI. 24.) NM (Ministry of Welfare) – occupational fitness examinations
- Adó Online – When can we be released from the obligation to work? (the cases under Mt. Section 55 and how they are paid)
- Munkajog Portál – Going to the doctor during working hours? (3 November 2024)
