We would like to inform you that, on 26 June 2020, an amendment to the Labour Code (Act No.262/2006 Coll.) entered into force. The aim of this amendment was primarily (I) to simplify the implementation of several rights of an employer and an employee during the performance of work (in particular, by amending the legal regulation of leave and adjusting the rules for a transfer of rights and obligations in a employment relationship); (II) to simplify the performance of work itself (especially by anew regulation of the so-called job sharing by more employees); and (III) to back up and regulate communication between the parties to the employment relationship. The amendment also transposes into the Czech law certain rules of the EU law, in particular Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) No. 2018/957 amending the EU rules on the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services.
The abovementioned amendment to the Labour Code comes into effect gradually. Changes in regulation of leave, compensation for damages, as well as the adjustment of the new institute of the job sharing will come into effect on 1 January 2021. Other amendments to the LabourCode entered into effect on 30 July 2020.
Leave
The new legislation eliminates some shortcomings of the previous regulation and provides a new way of calculating leave based on a new mathematical model based on a single unit of time – a planned and worked hour. The amendment brings equal conditions for taking leave for all employees with the same weekly working hours, regardless of the specific way of scheduling work shifts. The amendment to the Labour Code also cancels the leave for days worked and retains in force only the legal regulation of leave for a calendar year / its proportional part and an additional leave. The basic conditions for the formation of the right to leave, including the scope of obstacles at work that are or are not considered to be a work performance for the purposes of leave, as well as the rules for taking leave, have in principle been maintained in the new legislation.
Job sharing
The amendment to the Labour Code also includes the regulation of the new institute of the labour law, the so called job sharing, the aim of which is to help and support disadvantaged groups of employees on the labour market who prefer shorter working hours with greater time flexibility. According to the new legislation, the employer will be entitled to establish a so-called shared job position, which, on the basis of individual agreements with employees, will be filled with two or more employees performing the same type of work during agreed reduced working hours, and these employees will be able to schedule their working hours into shifts on the basis of their mutual agreement. However, the sum of the agreed working hours of all employees sharing one job position will not be able to exceed the specified weekly working hours. Each of the parties will be able to terminate the abovementioned agreement between the employer and each employee with a 15-day notice period, however such termination will not automatically lead to the termination of the job sharing.
Damage compensation
The amendment to the Labour Code also brought changes in compensation for injury to the health of employees during the performance of work duties. For example, there is a change in the amount of compensation for injury to health or the scope of persons entitled to such compensation for non-pecuniary damage provided to surviving relatives of an employee. The amendment also introduces into the Labour Code the institute of one-off compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the event of particularly serious injury to an employee’s health, which will be used in exceptional cases where the consequences of such injury are so extensive that these consequences are comparable to the death of an employee.
Delivery of documents
Regarding the amendment to the Labour Code, there are also changes in the regulation of delivery of documents between the employer and the employee. The amendment now allows the employer to deliver documents concerning the employment relationship to the employee via the employee’s databox if the employee agrees to such delivery. At the same time, the amendment introduces the legal fiction of delivery of a document to employee via a data box on the 10 th day from the day of delivery of the document to the data box.
When sending documents using a postal service provider, the employer will now send the documents to the address communicated in writing by the employee upon request. The employee will thus be primarily responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of his / her data for the delivery of documents. The amendment further stipulates a new legal fiction of delivery of a document to an employer who refuses to accept delivery of such document – the document will be considered delivered on the day when the employer refuses to take over the document or fails to cooperate with the employee in delivery of the document.
Other changes
In addition to the abovementioned changes, the amendment to the Labour Code also brings, for example, changes in the area of posting workers / employees of the employer from another EU Member State to the territory of the Czech Republic for the purpose of transnational provision of services. The amendment primarily regulates the rules of remuneration of posted employees(regulation of new employee rights to night supplement, travel allowances, etc.), as well as the conditions of accommodation of such employees in the Czech Republic, which the employer must comply with when posting workers.
The full wording of Act No. 285/2020 Coll., which amends the Labour Code, may be found here: https://www.psp.cz/sqw/sbirka.sqw?O=8&T=689.
In case of any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email (info@kastnerpies.cz).