Introduction

Another amendment to the Labour Code and the Civil Service Act and related regulations (the so-called “flexi amendment”)[1] may come into force as early as 1 January 2025.

The amendment introduces fundamental changes to, among other things, the probationary period, notice period, calculation of the minimum wage, payment of wages, employment of persons on parental, maternity or paternity leave and employment of minors. However, the amendment is only at the draft stage in the Chamber of Deputies, so some changes may still be removed, amended or added. Compared to the original draft of the amendment, the provisions allowing, for example, giving notice to an employee without stating a reason have been removed.

Changes in wage payments

Newly, the payment of wages to the employee’s account follows directly from the law. The payment will be sent to an account specified by the employee.

If the employee does not provide his/her account number to the employer or does not agree to be paid to an account, the wages will have to be paid in cash. The employee will therefore be able to express his/her disagreement at any time. For this reason, it will be advisable for employers to keep the agreement to have the pay sent to an account in the employment contract as consent to payments to an account – so that the employee cannot change their opinion without the employer’s consent.

The range of employees to whom it will be possible to pay wage in foreign currency will also be significantly expanded, in particular to foreigners, stateless persons, EU citizens (and at the same time non-Czech citizens) who do not have permanent residence in the Czech Republic, and employees permanently living abroad.

Changes in the notice period

The notice period will now be calculated from the date of delivery (e.g. in the case of notice given on 1 January and the statutory notice period, the employment relationship will end on 1 March).

The notice period will be shortened to 1 month for sanction reasons for termination of employment (e.g. failure to meet the prerequisites for the performance of work, gross breach of work duties, repeated breach of duties).

The time limits for giving notice or immediate cancellation are extended from two months to three months.

Changes to the grounds for notice

The legislator has merged all the grounds for long-term loss of capacity to work into a single termination ground. In practice, it was often difficult for employers to correctly determine the reason for an employee’s incapacity for work. However, the selection of a wrong reason for termination by the employer results in the termination being invalid.

The new grounds for termination will be for medical reasons:

• the worker has exceeded the maximum exposure at the workplace as decided by a competent authority,
• the employee is unfit to do his/her current job on the basis of a medical opinion.

The reason for loss of capacity to work will still need to be assessed because of the employee’s right to compensation of 12 times his average monthly earnings in the event of an occupational accident or disease. However, the employee will not be able to challenge the validity of the notice in these cases. This amendment will help transparency in terminating employment for health reasons.

Changes in the probationary period

Another significant change is the extension of the probationary period. For ordinary staff, the maximum probationary period will be four months, while for senior staff a probationary period of up to eight months can be agreed.

The probationary period will also be automatically extended if the employee has not worked the entire shift due to obstacles on the employee’s side, taking leave or unexcused absences. This means that it no longer has to be a full day’s obstacle, and a failure to excuse for missing work has been added.

It will also be possible to extend the probationary period subsequently by written agreement between the employee and the employer (but only up to the maximum length of the probationary period).

Changes to employment of people on parental, maternity or paternity leave

Employees on parental, maternity or paternity leave will be able to enter into an agreement to perform work or agreement to complete a job for the same type of work as their main employment. Employers will thus be able to at least partially re-engage employees who want to earn extra money during parental, maternity or paternity leave.

Employees on parental, maternity or paternity leave will be entitled to exactly the same job if they start work before the child reaches the age of two.

Changes to the chain of fixed-term employment relationships

Under the new rules, it will be possible to chain fixed-term employment contracts without limitation for up to nine years when replacing an employee on maternity, paternity or parental leave.

Employing minors

It will now be possible to employ minors from the age of 14, provided that the work is light and does not endanger their health or education. These minors will also have shorter working hours (7 hours per day and a maximum of 35 hours per week) and longer rest periods (14 hours between shifts). Minors under the age of 14 will not be allowed to work from 8pm.

Employment of minors aged 14 and over will only be possible during the summer holidays. The written consent of the legal guardian will be required for the valid making of an employment contract or agreement.

Changes for civil servants

Newly, a civil servant will also be able to be a member of the statutory body or supervisory board if he/she receives written consent from his/her employer (official body). If a civil servant is a member of such a body of a legal entity before the start of his/her service, he/she has up to three months to terminate his/her membership or request the employer’s consent.

Conclusion

The amendment loosens some unnecessarily strict rules in labour law and gives employees and employers more room for agreement. We expect the amendment to be a welcome change for employers and employees.

The amendment is scheduled for its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies on 10 September 2024. We will closely monitor its development and keep you informed.

[1] The actual text of the amendment is available here