Hungary: individual employers and large businesses subject to the same strict liability for damages to their employees

Exception for individual employers. The invalidated provision established an exception from employer’s strict liability (i.e. no-fault liability) for damages caused to employees in connection with their employment (Article 174).  By virtue of this strict liability, an employer is relieved from full liability only upon proof that the damage was caused by an unavoidable event outside his/her field of operations or solely by the unavoidable conduct of the aggrieved party.  By contrast, Article 175 provides that a private individual employer employing a maximum of ten full-time employees may escape liability if he/she could prove that he/she was not responsible for the damages. The issue before the Constitutional Court was whether such distinction between the two groups of employers violated the Constitution’s prohibition against negative discrimination (Article 70/A of the Constitution).