Background information

The Seimas approved amendments to Labour Code No XII-2603 (Art. 49) allowing an employer to suspend an employee from work in the event of an emergency or quarantine, if the employee's medical condition endangers his or her colleagues, but the employee does not agree to work remotely. Such changes have been adopted to protect workers from persons who are infected with COVID-19, have returned from foreign territories or may have been in contact with persons infected with COVID-19.

Content of measure

Newly adopted Article 49 of the Labour Code stipulates that after the Government of the Republic of Lithuania declares a state of emergency or quarantine, in order to ensure protection of the health of employees and third parties, the employer must offer an employee whose health condition threatens the health of other employees to work remotely. The employer's offer to the employee to work remotely must state the reason, term and legal basis for the offer to work remotely. The employee must inform the employer in writing of the consent to work remotely within one working day. If the employee does not agree to work remotely or fails to respond to the employer's offer to work remotely, the employer suspends the employee from work in writing, prohibiting him/her to work and paying no wage, no later than one working day from the deadline to respond to the employer's offer. The employer's decision to suspend the employee from work must specify the period for which the employee is to be suspended, the reason for the suspension and the legal basis thereof.

Use of measure

No information yet available.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Does not apply to businesses	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Social partners jointly Company / Companies	No special funding required

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Direct consultation outside a formal body	Direct consultation outside a formal body

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Unknown
• Main level of involvement: Unknown

Involvement

N/A

Views and reactions

Social partners consulted only ad hoc, the tripartite meeting was not held

Sources

• 17 March 2020: Lietuvos Respublikos darbo kodekso 47 ir 49 straipsnių pakeitimo įstatymas Nr. XIII-2821 (2020-03-17 (e-seimas.lrs.lt)