The duty to test employees for COVID-19 applies to all employers with at least 1 employee as follows:

• Phase 1: Employers located in the Czech Republic with 250+ employees
• Phase 2: Employers located in the Czech Republic with 50–249 employees
• Phase 3: Employers located in the Czech Republic with 10-49 employees
• Phase 4: Employers located in the Czech Republic with 1-9 employees

Employers must in principal test all their employees, whether they are employed under regular employment contracts or under different arrangements, such as DPP or DPČ and where appropriate also other persons entering the employer’s workplace (please see above point 2.).

There are however certain exceptions:

• employees who work from home permanently/on a long-term basis;
• employees who have already had COVID-19 as confirmed by laboratory testing, provided that the following conditions are met:
  • employee had COVID-19 in the last 3 months (employers must demand a confirmation from the employee and keep a copy thereof – personal data processing is in this case based on the employer’s legal obligation);
  • isolation period has expired;
  • employee has no symptoms of COVID-19;
  • no more than 90 days have passed from the employee’s first positive RT-PCR test or POC antigen test.

The employee is obliged to prove the illness with an appropriate medical certificate. It is not quite clear how to prove or verify that the employee has no symptoms of COVID-19. To make sure, we would recommend having the employee sign a declaration that he/she has no symptoms of the disease which will also include an obligation to immediately contact the employer by phone in case any symptoms should appear in order to coordinate next steps. Since it is obviously not possible to submit each employee to a comprehensive medical check daily, we suggest measuring the employee’s temperature before they enter the workplace, since high temperature is a typical symptom of the disease and the practice is currently routinely used by medical and similar facilities before allowing access to visitors.

• employee has a certificate issued by the Czech Ministry of Health documenting his vaccination against disease COVID-19, if at the same time:
  • it has been at least 14 days since the first dose (in case of a one-dose scheme) or the second dose (in case of a two-dose scheme) of vaccine, and
  • the employee doesn’t show any signs of disease COVID-19.
    The employee is obliged to prove the carried-out vaccination (including its date) with a relevant medical certificate.
• Employees who have taken one of the below tests in the last 7 days and tested negative:
  • RT-PCR test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus;
  • POC antigen test for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus; or
  • self-test taken at the employer’s premises (or, under the same conditions, at employee’s home).

Employers do not need to carry out the tests themselves (or via their designated employees), but may also:

• Delegate the testing to their provider of occupational health services:
  • If the provider is not located directly at the employer’s address, the provider must first apply to their supervising Regional Office for a permission to provide medical services outside its regular location;
  • If such a provider has contracts with health insurance companies, it is entitled to automatically bill the procedure to the respective employee’s health insurance company, which will pay for it (i.e., the costs of testing will not be billed and documented to the health insurance company by the employer, which will reduce administrative costs for employers).
• Use testing sites at medical facilities:
  • It has been announced that the main form of testing will remain to be testing at professional medical (testing) facilities;
  • Employer may arrange for testing of employees directly with a medical facility located close to the employer’s site or employee’s residence;
  • Costs will be billed to the respective health insurance company directly by the medical facility, thus reducing employer’s administrative burden;
  • Certain medical providers promptly offered group testing at the employer’s workplace.
• Request employees to self-test at home:
  • This testing method is suitable in particular for employees who work outside employer’s premises (visit customers etc.);
  • May also be used by employees who work at the employer’s premises, but test before they leave for the workplace;
  • It is necessary to make sure that employees follow the testing manual and that the employer keeps record of their results;
  • The validity of the test does not differ from tests performed by the employer at the workplace.

Employers must make sure that tests used for employee testing be delivered by a provider who was granted an exception for antigen testing by non-medical personnel by the Ministry of Health – a list of such providers and the tests they supply is available HERE and is regularly updated. All types of tests have been granted the exception and it is therefore possible to test from saliva or to use nose or mouth swabs, none of which is a preferred option.

Using a test which has not been approved may result both in the employer failing to meet its obligation to test employees and in health insurance companies refusing to pay for the test (or demanding that the amount paid be returned).

Tests from approved suppliers may be purchased via standard distribution networks, i.e., directly from a distributor (which is the most cost-efficient way for large orders), or in pharmacies.

All tests must include a manual in Czech.

(!) Note: Keep invoices for the tests purchased – the invoices may in the future be requested for checks by a health insurance companies.

Employers should take the following steps before they start testing employees:

• Employer will designate a suitable testing area at the workplace – a room which is not frequently used or where employees do not concentrate; the area should be regularly disinfected;
• Employer will ensure that all employees who assist during workplace testing and employees who take the test at home will be familiar with the patient information leaflet and manual for the test;
• Employer will equip employees who assist at testing with protective equipment (FFP2 respirator, protective glasses and gloves);
• Assisting employees will record the test results into a Completed Tests Chart (may be downloaded HERE) – where they will record, among other things, the employee’s health insurance company and health insurance number (usually a national ID number)

(!) Note: Health insurance companies prepared an online application on their websites (same one for all health insurance companies), through which it’s possible to apply for a contribution for the antigen tests. The application can’t be filed by any other means other than through this application. The application can be found HERE.

The test result is of crucial importance to employers:

Negative test results

• Employee may continue work at the workplace as long as they adhere to protective measures introduced at the workplace.

Positive test results

• In case of a positive result, the employer or the employee must immediately contact:
  • Provider of occupational health services or employee’s registering GP;
  • If the employee is not registered with any GP, then the Regional Hygiene Authority;
• The respective physician or the hygiene authority will order a confirmation test using the RT-PCR testing method and will issue a request form for it in ISIN (information system for infectious diseases) – employee must undergo the confirmation test, the costs of which will be billed to the health insurance company directly by the medical facility which performed the test;
• Employee must minimize the risk of infecting other people, i.e., employee must immediately leave the workplace (or in case of testing at home, stay at home) and stay in isolation;
• If an employee tests positive at home, he/she must notify the employer and proceed as described above.

Please note that materials used/produced during testing may possibly qualify as hazardous waste, employers should therefore, in accordance with recommendations issued by the Ministry of Environment:

• Place all used testing kits in a black plastic bag at least 0,2 mm thick (or in case of thinner material, use two plastic bags – one inserted in the other);
• When the bag is full or no later than 24 hours from the first use, tie the bag and treat the surface with disinfectant;
• Throw the bag into a regular container for mixed communal waste – never leave plastic bags with used testing kits next to waste containers!
• Persons responsible for waste disposal will always thoroughly clean their hands with warm water and soap or use hand disinfectant.

Since self-testing will generate considerable expenses for employers, health insurance companies will partially reimburse employers as follows:

• CZK 60 for maximum 4 tests per month per one employee, i.e. in total CZK 240 a month per one employee; it is obvious that these contributions in most cases cannot cover the actual costs incurred by employers in the purchase of antigen testing kits;
• The subsidy will also apply to employees employed under a DPČ or DPP, and other persons, who the employer is obliged to test, although only those who are subject to mandatory health insurance payments;
• For the provision of the subsidy its indecisive whether the self-test was carried out at the working place or the employee carried it out at home;
• Numbers of completed tests are to be reported to health insurance companies electronically 1x month via a website application https://www.samotesty-covid.cz/;
• The subsidy is paid for the previous month retrospectively;
• First clearances with health insurance companies were made beginning of April 2021.

Costs of more frequent testing of employees will be borne solely by the employers.

How the employer shall proceed in case of an application for a contribution for testing:

• Obtain a message from the data box entitled “Program to support the implementation of COVID-19 self-sampling tests“ activation code to the system; in case the employer hasn’t received the code, the employer may request the generation of the code HERE;
• Visit the website https://www.samotesty-covid.cz/;
• Proceed with the first registration of the user into the system:
• chose login data (i.e. login name and password);
• fill out personal data of the relevant worker, who is responsible for submitting the application (including and ID document);
• fill out contact address and other contact data;
• confirmation of registration is only possible by ticking the consent to the terms and conditions of the program for the grant of the contribution;
• after finalizing the registration process the user will access the homepage, which appears every time he logs into to the system.
• Fill out data regarding the purchase of the test kit (“New purchase documents“):
  • identification of the supplier;
  • identification of invoice;
  • listing of individually purchased items (i.e. type and number of tests and price per piece incl. VAT);
  • attaching a scan of accounting/tax documents (“Attach file“) in pdf, jpeg or png format; the maximum size of the file is 5 MB;
  • added items shall be always saved; even unfinished data can be saved; the final sending is done via button „Check and send“, a declaration of truthfulness should be ticked regarding the filled out data.
• Fill out overview of carried out tests („New test results“) for the calendar month for which its requested (i.e. in April for March tests etc.), containing the following data:

• • number of the insured person: filling out the number, under which the person is insured;
  • health insurance company: indicating the relevant code (e.g. 111, 207, 210 and so on);
  • result of test negative/positive: indicating either „yes“ or „x“ in the relevant column, the second column is left unfilled;
  • it’s possible to import data from the table from the file of the overview of tests saved in the system of the employer („Import from file“), or it’s possible to fill out the list item by item manually („Add test manually“);
  • it’s possible to fill out all employees into the table, for which the employer requests the contribution, it’s not necessary to divide the employees according to their health insurance companies;
• Fill out banking connection, to which the contribution should be sent;
• Check and send the overview of the tests carried out.

A detailed user manual to be filled out is to be found HERE.

From the given dates, employers cannot allow access to the workplace to employees who have not been tested and employees are obliged to undergo testing (with exceptions described above).

From the perspective of employment law, if an employee refuses to test, it will be considered as absence from work for reasons on the part of the employee. Since this does not entail a right for salary compensation under statutory provisions, such absence will be unpaid.

Taking into account all circumstances, we believe that employers may conclude that if there are no serious reasons to reject testing on the part of the employee, his/her refusal to test may be considered a breach of employment-related obligation, which, after a warning and a period of time to remedy may result in the employee’s termination.

Supervising authorities have already made clear that they will check whether employers meet their obligations related to employee testing. Inspections will be carried out primarily by the Regional Hygiene Office. However, due to their full capacities, their powers may also be shared by Labour Inspectorates. Sanctions might therefore be imposed under the Public Health Protection Act as well as under health and occupational safety rules set forth in the Labour Inspection Act. According to information shared by the authorities, penalties of up to CZK 500,000 may be imposed.

We recommend that all employers keep accurate records of the testing (in particular by keeping the requested Test Charts as described in Article 6 above) and require submission of documents from testing of employees by other parties and documents attesting to employees having already had Covid-19 (see Article 3 and 4 above).

Self-employed persons

Same obligation as for other employers from the 6 April 2021 is set out for self-employed persons performing their main self-employment located in the Czech Republic, who from this date must not enter their workplace or place of performance of work without a negative test, unless they are given the exception (described in point 3 above).

There is another exception for self-employed persons, which is that self-employed persons don’t have to be tested if on their workplace or place of performance of work they don’t come into contact with third persons, with the exception of persons living  in the same household.

Self-employed persons who’s result as part of the self-testing is positive for the presence of the virus, are from the 28 March 2021 obliged to leave the workplace or place of performance to their current residence and without delay inform their GP about the result (other health service provider or the relevant hygiene station, if applicable).

Non-governmental non- profit organizations

All employers located in the Czech Republic, which are non-governmental non-profit organizations and are employing at least 1 person have the same responsibilities as the smallest employers, i.e.:

• At the latest on 28 March ensure that the tests are available for their employees;
• At the latest on 30 March order employees to get tested;
• At the latest on 6 April all employees who are present at the workplace must be tested; from this date on, employers cannot allow access to the workplace to employees who have not been tested;
• From then on, employers must ensure that the employees are tested every 7 days.

Non-governmental non-profit organizations are the following:

• associations and their branches,
• foundations and endowments,
• ecclesiastical legal entities or purpose-built facilities of churches,
• charitable companies,

The conditions as well as exceptions from testing are the same as conditions described above for business entities.