Hungary: employment law developments to watch before year end and into 2027

Legislative and regulatory developments in Hungary will impact employers before the end of 2026 and into 2027, including updated minimum salary thresholds for highly skilled third-country nationals, a sector-wide collective agreement in the electricity industry and the legislative package linked to the initiative to make Christmas Eve a public holiday. 

Specifically, these developments were issued from the Minister for Social and Family Affairs and include: new Blue Card salary thresholds for 2027, the extension of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Electric Power Industry and a draft law linked to making Christmas Eve public holiday, which has not been promulgated yet.

EU Blue Card: minimum salaries for 2027

The minimum monthly salaries payable to EU Blue Card holders in 2027 include:

• HUF 872,995 (EUR 2,403) for certain health-care roles, such as general practitioners, pharmacists and specialist pharmacists, optometrists, dietitians and nutrition advisers, physiotherapists, health visitors, paramedic officers, nurses and midwives with higher educations; and
• HUF 1,091,244 (EUR 3,004) for every other third-country national employed under an employment relationship based on an EU Blue Card that is not included in the list above.

The thresholds apply to every employment relationship existing in 2027, so existing Blue Card employees are affected as well as new hires.

Employers of Blue Card holders should check that the salary of each Blue Card holder meets the applicable 2027 threshold, bearing in mind that the thresholds also apply to existing employment relationships. The lower threshold should only be relied on where the role falls within one of the occupations listed. New offers and applications for 2027 should reflect the updated amounts as well.

Electricity sector: collective bargaining agreement extended

The Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Electric Power Industry was extended to all employers whose main activity is electricity production, transmission, distribution, trading or storage, despite whether a member of the employers’ association signed the agreement. Its key terms include:

• notice periods of 45 to 120 days and severance payment of three to 12 months average salary, both depending on the length of an employee’s continuous service;
• an overtime cap of 300 hours a year;
• salary supplements, such as 20% for night work and 225% for overtime on public holidays;
• a 13th-month salary, sick pay at 85% of the absence fee and a pension fund contribution of at least 4.5% of gross salary.

Employers should confirm whether their main activity is electricity production from non-renewable or renewable sources, electricity transmission, distribution, trading or storage. Affected employers should review their local collective bargaining agreements, pay grades and employment contracts against the Collective Bargaining Agreement for the Electric Power Industry, in particular notice periods and severance payments, overtime rules, salary supplements and the sectoral minimum base salaries, as terms less favourable to employees may need to be adjusted.

Christmas Eve: draft amendment to the 2026 working-day schedule

On 3 November 2026, the Hungarian Parliament adopted, but has not yet promulgated, a draft law declaring 24 December, Christmas Eve, a public holiday. In connection with the legislative initiative, the Minister of Social and Family Affairs has adopted a decree amending the NGM Decree on the 2026 working-day arrangements around public holidays. The decree repeals the rule designating Saturday, 12 December 2026 as a working day to make up for 24 December, so employees will not have to work on 12 December. The decree would enter into force on the day after its promulgation.

Since both the draft law and the decree have already been adopted, employers should revisit work schedules already prepared for December 2026.

For more information on these regulations and how they could impact your business in Hungary, contact your CMS client partner or the CMS experts who wrote this article.

The article was co-authored by Viktor Kovács and Márk Jakab.