Constitutional Court: Transferring an employee to another job is not forced labor

However, the Constitutional Court did not find a contradiction between the contested provision and the prohibition of forced labour under Article 9 (1) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, since in such a case the employee is not subject to the threat of punishment and is not obliged to bear an unduly burdensome burden. Crucially, in the light of the settled case-law of the Supreme Court, this is only a temporary solution and the employee does not lose his right to severance pay, even if the job to which he was transferred by the employer without his consent refuses to take place and the employment relationship subsequently ends.

At the same time, the Constitutional Court explicitly stated that this finding does not prejudge the conformity of the contested provision with other fundamental rights.