On Wednesday, November 28, amendments to the Law on Labor entered into force, which were adopted by the previous cast of the Saeima. The controversy was hot. The changes relate to wages, foreign language skills, reprimands and allowances for dismissal.
When publishing a vacancy announcement, the employer is obliged to indicate either the total monthly wage, or gross annual income, or the amplitude of hourly wages. This requirement is enshrined in Part 3 of Art. 32 of the Law “On Labor”.
Previously, it was not necessary to indicate the salary in the ads. Most often, the employer himself asks at the interview what kind of salary the candidate expects. This, according to the authors of the amendments, is misleading a potential employee.
From now on, the employer is not entitled to require foreign language skills from employees if its use is not part of his job duties. In addition, the employee, in carrying out work duties, communicating with Latvian citizens, non-citizens and persons who have a residence permit in Latvia, has the right to use only the state language (part 4 of Art. 56 of the Law on Labor).
This requirement was proposed by the deputies of the National Association VL-TB / DNNL, who, thus, wanted to “eliminate the linguistic discrimination of Latvians at work, as well as facilitate their repatriation and ensure that they remain in Latvia.”
In Part 4 of Art. 90 of the Law “On Labor” stipulates a new procedure for making comments and reprimands, as well as their challenging. If the employer does not cancel the punishment on the complaint of the employee, the employee is entitled to apply to the court within a month after receiving the refusal. If the employer does not not consider the complaint within 7 days and does not provide an answer, the remark or reprimand shall be considered canceled.
As the authors of this amendment note, it was decided to balance the interests of the parties and to encourage employers to respond in a timely manner to the employees’ statement.
The Law on Labor has also been amended, which applies to the payment of dismissal benefits.
So, if an employee decides to quit and gives compelling reasons with which the employer agrees, he is obliged to pay him a dismissal allowance in the amount established by law. If a dispute arises between the parties about the grounds for dismissal, the employee is entitled to apply to the court within a month (from the date of dismissal) to collect a dismissal allowance.
