On 5 January 2022, the government approved an emergency measure by the Ministry of Health regarding regular preventive testing of employees. It requires employers to provide regular testing of their employees for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antigen through a rapid antigen test (RAT) intended for self-testing from 17 January 2022. Testing is to take place twice a week, with the next testing of an employee taking place no earlier than the third day after the previous testing. In the event that an employee is not present at the workplace on the day of regular testing, he/she shall be tested on the day he/she arrives at the workplace.

Employees are then required by the emergency measure to undergo the above antigen testing at the employer’s request at a specified frequency. 

Exemptions from this measure

Workplace testing is not required for employees who: 

• do not meet third parties in their workplace,
• do not perform work in the workplace,
• have undergone an RT-PCR test within the last 72 hours with a negative result,
• underwent a rapid antigen test performed by a healthcare professional within the last 24 hours with a negative result,
• undergo regular preventive testing with another employer.

Employees are required to provide proof of these facts by means of a digital certificate or a certificate issued by a health care provider, or written confirmation from the employer, with whom the employee undergoes preventive testing.

Refusal to take the test

An employee, who refuses to undergo a rapid antigen test at the workplace, shall wear an FFP2 class respirator or other similar respiratory protective device (without an exhalation valve) meeting at least all technical conditions and requirements for the product, including a filtration efficiency of at least 94 % according to the relevant standards, at all times when present at the workplace, and shall maintain a distance of at least 1.5 metre from other persons and eat separately from other persons.

The employer is obliged to report this fact without undue delay to the locally competent authority for the protection of public health and to ensure, by means of organisational measures, that the employee’s encounters with other persons at the workplace are limited to the necessary extent.

Records of tests performed

Employers are obliged to keep a record of the tests performed, for control purposes. The records should include:

• date of testing,
• name and surname of the tested person,
• date of birth of the tested person,
• insurance number and the name of the health insurance company,
• test result.

Employers must retain this information for 90 days.

In case of a positive test result

If an employee tests positive, the employer is obliged to send this information to the local public health authority with the following information: the name and, where applicable, the name and identification number of the employer, the contact telephone number and e-mail address of the employer, the date of testing, the name of the person tested, his/her nationality, birth registration number or date of birth, code of the health insurance company of the person tested, his/her residential address, his/her contact telephone number, e-mail address, where applicable, the competent health insurance authority and information on whether a certificate of quarantine for health insurance purposes (electronic sick note) is to be issued to the person concerned. The employer must send all of this information electronically no later than on the day following the testing.