If at least one person in your company works under an employment contract, two things change for you on 1 November 2026: late-payment interest and final pay on leaving. The other changes – dismissal at the employer's will, remote work, longer probation, on-call duty – depend on your situation.
The amendments come from Law No XV-1058 of 25 June 2026, and its Article 39 sets the transitional rules. The calendar is not on the employer's side this time: 31 October is a Saturday, and 1 and 2 November are public holidays. The last working day under the old rules is Friday, 30 October.
Which changes affect your company?
A few questions about your employees – and you will see where to start. The full list of tasks is under “What to do before 1 November 2026”.
Does at least one person in your company work under an employment contract?
Count the director too, if the director has an employment contract.
A rough assessment based on your answers and the information available on 13 October 2026 – not advice. Your answers are not stored or sent anywhere.
Can you still dismiss at the employer's will?
You can, but only for a justified reason. Until now it was enough that the reason was not one of those listed in Article 57(1) of the Labour Code; from 1 November, Article 59 requires the reason to be justified. The 3 working days' notice and the severance payment of at least 6 months' average wage (VDU) stay the same.
Dismissal procedures started by 31 October 2026 follow the old rules. What exactly counts as the start of the procedure – handing over the notice or some other step – has no official interpretation yet, so it is better not to plan a dismissal at the end of October right on the line.
We recommend not rushing a dismissal just because of the date. It is better to put the reason and the facts behind it in writing now – from November you will need them anyway.
Part of the final pay can be deferred
Until now every sum has been payable on the last working day or, by agreement, within 10 working days. From 1 November, the parties can agree at the time of dismissal that the part exceeding one month of the employee's average wage will be paid later, but no later than within 3 months.
For example, an employee's average monthly wage is €2,000. On dismissal at the employer's will the employee is owed €12,000 in severance (6 × €2,000), €1,400 in compensation for unused leave and €2,000 for November – €15,400 in total. At least €2,000 is paid on the last day, and the remaining €15,400 − €2,000 = €13,400 can be paid within 3 months, if that was agreed at the time of dismissal.
If the termination was started by 31 October, the old settlement rules apply.
What will a late salary cost?
Late-payment interest runs from the day the sum was due, for every calendar day of delay. When its rate is set, the consumer price index is multiplied by 5 – the interest goes up fivefold.
Sums that were due by 31 October carry interest under the old rules. A deferred part of the final pay has its own deadline too: miss it and interest runs on that part as well.
Remote work: “too expensive” is no longer a reason
Certain employees' requests to work remotely (Article 52 of the Labour Code) or on a different working-time pattern (Article 113) will have to be granted, unless that is impossible because of how the work or the production process is organised. You will no longer be able to refuse because it costs too much.
A health reason is supported by a document from a healthcare institution, not necessarily a formal opinion – the same applies to a request for part-time work (Article 40). The extra costs of remote work are reimbursed unless a collective agreement says otherwise.
Longer probation – only for the higher-paid
An employee whose monthly salary is at least twice the national average wage (VDU) can be given a probation period of up to 6 months. For everyone else it stays at up to 3 months. Time on sick leave, holiday and other important absences does not count towards the 6 months, and probation still cannot be extended by agreement.
A probation period set by 31 October ends under the old rules: for someone hired in October you cannot extend it to 6 months.
The hour before a public holiday is paid
On the eve of a public holiday the working day is one hour shorter, and from 1 November the law states clearly that pay for that hour is kept. Where pay depends on output, the shortened hour is paid at the average wage. The first time this applies under the new rules is 23 December 2026.
Disciplinary time limits pause during illness and holiday
Time when the employee was ill or on holiday no longer counts towards the one-month limit for investigating a breach and taking a decision, or towards the time limits for deciding to terminate the employment contract. Breaches committed by 31 October follow the old rules.
On-call duty at home – by the hour
Passive on-call duty at home may last up to 168 hours in 4 weeks, and the supplement is at least 20% of the employee's hourly pay for every hour on call. Until now the supplement was calculated per week of on-call duty.
Say the hourly rate is €13. For a weekend (48 hours) on call the supplement is at least 20% × €13 × 48 = €124.80. On-call hours agreed by 31 October stay valid until the agreement ends, if you do not change it.
What else changes
- For an employee with a disability to be on call, their consent is enough – a healthcare institution's opinion is no longer needed.
- With an employee earning at least 2 VDU you can also agree different terms for ending the employment contract (Article 33 of the Labour Code) – worth discussing with a lawyer.
- Damage caused by the employer to an employee can be compensated by agreement between the parties, not only through a labour dispute.
- The public sector, collective agreements, labour disputes and strikes get their own amendments, which rarely affect a small private company.
What to do before 1 November 2026
- Decide on any planned dismissals at the employer's will – by Friday, 30 October.
- Leave room in your notice template for the reason and the facts behind it.
- Add a deferred-payment clause to your template agreement on terminating an employment contract.
- Check your November payment dates – if you are late, the interest will be higher.
- Update your remote-work policy and your template reply to a request.
- Provide for probation of up to 6 months in your employment contract template where the salary is at least 2 VDU.
- Set up the paid pre-holiday hour and the hourly on-call supplement in your payroll software.
If we run your payroll, we will update the software settings ourselves. We do not prepare HR documents – notices, agreements, remote-work policies: those are best left to a lawyer. If you do not have one, write to us and we will put you in touch with the lawyer we work with regularly.