The law provides for situations in which employers must consult their subordinates before implementing certain solutions. When does this obligation apply? How do you choose an employee representative? Find the answers below.
When must the employer consult (communicate) with employees?
The Labor Code sets out a series of situations in which the employer must consult (or, relatively speaking, reach agreement with) employee representatives. As a general rule, this is a situation where there is no company trade union organization at the workplace in question. In this case, employee consent – either through the conclusion of an appropriate agreement, or through participation in consultations on the content of the document – will be required in situations where the employer is planning, among other things, to
It is also possible to distinguish situations in which the obligation to consult employees exists independently of the operation of a trade union organization on the premises of a given company. These include, for example :
The duty to consult also exists in relation to the internal whistleblowing procedure under the Whistleblowers Protection Act, which came into force on September 25, 2024. You can find out more about whistleblowers here. You can find out more about the internal whistleblowing procedure here.
How do I choose a representative?
The law does not indicate any specific method for choosing a representative. The Labor Code refers only to “the methods adopted in the workplace concerned”. This solution offers the employer a wide range of possibilities, limited only by the need to guarantee the possibility of democratic choice. In this way, the employer imposes only the details of how and how many representatives are selected. The choice itself, on the other hand, rests with the workers.
Depending on the needs of the workplace in question, the employer may formalize the method of electing a representative and, to this end, draw up rules for conducting the election of a representative. However, this is not compulsory. The legal obligation to allow employees to choose will also be fulfilled if the employer simply allows employees to organize the election in the way they choose.
Consulting the internal whistleblowing procedure
The Whistleblower Protection Act has regulated consultation of the internal whistleblowing procedure in a slightly different way to the classic consultation specified in the Labor Code. Firstly, consultation of the procedure takes place with employee representatives – not just employees. By employees, we mean all those who provide work or services on any basis whatsoever, i.e. also those employed under a service contract or inter-company agreement.
However, the election of the workers’ representative must be conducted in a similar way to the election of the employees’ representative. The employing entity must therefore give the general public the opportunity to elect its representative in a democratic manner.
The main difference between the consultations provided for in the Labour Code and those provided for in the Whistleblower Protection Act is the time limit. Consultations on the draft whistleblower protection procedure must last between 5 and 10 days. In the case of labor law, the duration of consultations is not limited by law.