The Hungarian government has issued a decree giving employers the power to require their workers to be inoculated against the coronavirus “as a condition of working”.
In the latest issue of the official gazette Magyar Közlöny, the decree states that employers may require Covid jabs of their staff “if they deem it necessary in the interest of the safety of people working there”. Employers who instruct their workers to be inoculated must give them 45 days to get their first jab. Workers must get the second jab on the date assigned by the physician administering the inoculation. Employees who do not comply may be put on unpaid leave for a period of one year and may be terminated after that period if they still have not been inoculated. Employees who can produce a doctor’s certification showing inoculation against the coronavirus would put them at risk because of a health condition are exempt from the new rule.
Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the step was necessary to boost the inoculation rate amid the fourth wave of the pandemic. A separate decree published in the official gazette requires masks to be worn on public transport as well as at stops and stations from November 1.
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