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Labour law in the Czech Republic regulates the legal relations arising in connection with the performance of dependent work between employees and their employers, labour relations of collective nature and other aspect related to employment.
The fundamental principles of labour relations are especially legal protection of employee status, satisfactory and safe working conditions for performance of work, fair remuneration and equal treatment of employees and prohibition of their discrimination.
No employment permission needed.
Work Permit – most common in cases of seasonal work, or applicants for international protection etc.
Blue Card – for a long-term stay involving the performance of a highly skilled job
Employee Card – for long-term stay in the territory of the Czech Republic where the purpose of the stay (longer than 3 months) is employment
Intra-Company Transfer Card – for transfer within a group of companies (from a group company outside the EU into Czech Republic), where the purpose of the stay is work (longer than 3 months) as a manager, specialist or employed intern
There are two types of regular employment contracts in the Czech Republic:
Employment Contract for a definite period: generally, it can be concluded for a maximum of 3 years and it is possible to prolong such contract only twice (maximum length 3×3 years)
Employment Contract for an indefinite period: an employment relationship shall last for an indefinite period unless a definite period has been expressly agreed
Furthermore, an employee may perform work outside employment relationship on the ground of two agreements:
Agreement to complete a job: the scope of work for which an agreement is concluded may not exceed 300 hours in one calendar year.
Agreement to perform work: the scope of work shall not exceed a maximum of one half of determined weekly working hours (20 hours)
In Czech employment contracts, the probationary period can be concluded as:
Maximum 3 consecutive months for regular employees
Maximum 6 consecutive months for managers
A probationary period may not be longer than one half of the agreed period of the employment relationship and must be agreed in writing on the day of commencement of employment at the latest.
Employment relationship may be terminated with the Czech employee:
In some specific cases, an employee is entitled to severance pay upon termination of employment.
Where notice of termination has been given, the employment relationship will come to an end upon the expiry of the notice period. The notice period must be the same for both the employer and the employee.
The notice period shall be at least 2 months and can be extended only by agreement between the employer and the employee in writing. The notice period shall start to run on the first day of the calendar month following delivery of the notice.
The length of the notice period is regulated differently for agreements on work outside of an employment relationship. Unless agreed otherwise, the notice period for these agreements is 15 days and starts on the date on which the notice is delivered to the other party.
The employer is obliged to pay monthly contributions to social and health insurance and advances on the income tax.
Social security contribution: 24.8%* of gross earnings
* (from 1 February 2023, it is possible to apply a discount on the contribution of 5% for certain groups of employees, e.g., under 21 years of age, or those with shorter working hours who are over 55 years of age or caring for a child under 10 years of age, etc.)
Health insurance: 9% of gross earnings
Social security contribution: 7.1% of gross earnings
From 2024, employees are paying sickness insurance as part of their social security contributions, at a rate of 0.6% of their gross wages. The employee’s social security contribution will therefore be 7.1% instead of the previous 6.5%.
Health insurance: 4.5% of gross earnings
The personal income tax in the Czech Republic is paid by the employee at a flat rate of 15% applicable on a gross salary up to the annual income of 36x the average salary (i.e. CZK 1,582,812 for 2024).
Income exceeding this limit is taxed at a higher flat rate of 23%.
40 hours/week is the length of standard weekly working hours, except for some employees. Working hours are usually distributed over a five-day working week. Part-time work may be agreed between the employer and employee.
12 hours is the maximum length of a shift. The employer shall distribute working hours and determine the start and end of shifts.
25% of the average earnings is the minimum premium that the employee is entitled to for overtime work in addition to the attained wage, or a compensatory time off.
Besides an evenly distributed work time schedule, employers may also introduce uneven or flexible schedules, as well as a work time account. Specific requirements are indicated in the Czech Labour Code.
Regarding the vacation and other circumstances under which the Czech employee can take time off, the main cases are:
The employee in an employment relationship who performed work for the employer for 52 weeks in the extent of the weekly working hours (standard or shorter part-time working time) in one calendar year is entitled to annual leave. The basic statutory period of leave is 4 weeks.
The employee who worked for the employer in the extent of the weekly working hours for at least 4 weeks, is entitled to 1/52 of the leave entitlement for each fully worked weekly working time.
The length of additional leave in the Czech Republic is 1 week and it is provided for specific groups of employees engaged in particularly hard work when an employee performs such work for the entire calendar year. In case that this type of work was not performed during the whole calendar year, a proportional part of the additional leave is provided (1/52 of the yearly entitlement for each work week).
As of 1 January 2024, employees working under an agreement for work performed outside the employment relationship (agreement to perform work or agreement to complete a job) are now also entitled to annual leave. The entitlement arises if the employment relationship under the same agreement lasted at least 4 weeks in the relevant calendar year and if the employee worked at least 80 hours. With the statutory 4-week annual leave entitlement, the employee is entitled to approximately 1.5 hours of leave for every 20 hours worked.
Due to family circumstances or for other personal reasons the employee may be given a leave without pay, the duration of which is determined usually under the agreement between the employee and the employer. It is applicable upon request, but in certain cases prescribed by law. For example, the employer is obliged to provide unpaid leave when the employee moves or seeks another employment (both subject to further conditions). In some cases, the employee is even entitled to paid leave (e.g. medical examination, wedding, bereavement).
The most common benefits for employees in the Czech Republic are:
Certain companies offer also temporary accommodation or housing allowances, recreation in the company’s facilities or holiday allowances, or free ticket by companies operating regular public transportation.
* Non-monetary benefits in the field of culture, education, purchase of services and goods from medical institutions, recreation and trips, etc., which are provided by the employer to the employee or his/her family members, will now be exempt from tax on the employee’s side only up to half of the average monthly salary for the whole calendar year (for 2024 this amount is CZK 21,983).
An employment agency temporarily assigns its employee to perform work for a client on the basis of a temporary assignment agreement entered into by and between the agency and the client.
The agreement must be in writing. The employment agency assigns an employee to perform temporary work with the client on the basis of a written order.
The employment agency and the client are obliged to secure that the working and wage conditions for the temporarily assigned employee are not or would not be worse than those under which a comparable employee works or would work.
The time of temporary assignment to perform work for the same client shall not exceed 12 consecutive calendar months, although some exceptions apply.
In case an employee of an employer based in one of the EU member states is sent to work within the framework of the posting of employees in the territory of the Czech Republic, such an employment must comply with the European legislation, as well as that of the Czech Republic.
An A1 certificate is a form that states the country in which an employee is covered by social insurance. In principle, all employees are covered by social security in the country where they work and hence to prove this, employees must carry an A1 certificate.
Inspections in several EU countries are strict and may cause unpleasant situations to the employees and their employers if they do not have A1 certificates.
If the posting is short-term (i.e. up to 12 months), the employment must comply with the following Czech basic work conditions:
In case of long-term postings (i.e. exceeding 12 months), it is necessary to ensure that also any other local work conditions are applicable to the posted employee, with the exception of conditions governing the establishment, changes or termination of an employment relationship.
Local legislation is not applicable if the legislation of the posting country is more favourable to the employee, which is to be considered individually.
The main sources of the labour law are three acts:
However, the area of labour law is governed by other important regulations, such as:
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