The year 2024 brings two amendments to the Labour Code, which contain a number of changes in the area of employment relationships. Given the scope of these changes, we have decided to dedicate this double issue of the legal bulletin to them. The first partial amendment to the Labour Code, enacted by Act No. 230/2024 Coll., has dual effectiveness, with some changes having entered into force on 1 August 2024 and some changes entering into force on 1 January 2025. However, more fundamental changes are to be implemented within the framework of the so-called flexible amendment, which is currently being discussed by the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, with its effectiveness also anticipated for 1 January 2025.
From 1 August 2024, it is newly possible to agree remuneration under agreements for work performed outside an employment relationship with regard to potential night work, work in difficult working conditions or work on Saturdays and Sundays, provided that the scope of work is agreed at the same time.
With effect from 1 January 2025, the so-called guaranteed wage is being abolished. This means that employers will no longer be obliged to pay employees more than the minimum wage. Another major change is the possibility for employees to independently arrange their working hours. A new provision, Section 87a, is inserted into the Labour Code, which will enable employees to conclude a written agreement with employers in which they agree conditions for the arrangement of working hours by the employee. This agreement may be terminated either by agreement of the contractual parties with effect from an agreed date, or it may be terminated for any reason or without stating a reason with a 15-day notice period.
The flexible amendment proposes to extend the maximum length of the probationary period to 4 months for ordinary employees and to 8 months in the case of managerial employees. In addition, situations in which the probationary period is extended by law should be specified in greater detail. It should also newly be possible to extend the probationary period during its course, but at most within the above-mentioned scope.
In relation to maternity and parental leave, and also to caring parents, the flexible amendment plans to introduce less binding rules to facilitate the replacement of employees on maternity, paternity and parental leave. These consist of removing the limitation on the number of repetitions of fixed-term employment for replacement employees (i.e., the rule that fixed-term employment may be extended at most twice will not apply). Even in the case of replacement employees, according to the amendment, the total duration of the employment relationship should be at most 9 years. Furthermore, the flexible amendment modifies the employer’s obligation to assign the employee to the original work and workplace, such that the employer must assign to the original work and workplace also an employee who returns to work after parental leave before the day the child reaches the age of 2 years (under the current legal regulation, this obligation existed only upon the employee’s return from maternity or paternity leave). A new possibility should also be introduced for the concurrent exercise of parental leave and agreements performed outside an employment relationship for the same type of work as specified in the employment contract.
The flexible amendment primarily plans to shorten the length of the notice period to 1 month in cases where the employee is given notice for reasons stated in Section 52(f) to (h) of the Labour Code (i.e., for example, breach of the employee’s duties or unsatisfactory work performance). The same length should be established for notice given to the employer for reasons stated in Section 51a of the Labour Code, i.e., due to the transfer of rights and obligations from employment relationships. Furthermore, the length of the subjective and objective time limits within which the employer may terminate the employment relationship with the employee by notice for breach of legal regulations or by immediate termination of employment is to be changed to 3 months from the moment the employer learned of the reason for notice or immediate termination of employment, but at the latest within 15 months.
It should newly be possible to pay wages or salary to an employee both in Czech crowns and in foreign currency, provided that an exchange rate for this currency is announced by the Czech National Bank, and further provided that the prerequisites on the employee’s side are met (connection to abroad). More precise rules for the payment of wages or salary should also be introduced, such as the obligation to pay wages or salary primarily to the employee’s bank account, etc.
On the other hand, conditions for delivering wage and salary statements should also be relaxed at the same time. Upon fulfilment of statutory conditions, it should newly be possible to deliver a wage or salary statement to the employee also by means of electronic communications networks. In this context, however, we continue to recommend choosing rather the procedure under Section 335(1) of the Labour Code (i.e., obtaining the employee’s consent to the delivery of documents to an electronic mail address), as it is more universal, and in the event of obtaining the employee’s consent, it can be used to deliver all types of documents.
Mgr. David Svoboda, advokát Mgr. Adéla Tůmová, advokátní koncipientka
This text was originally prepared by the law firm Mašek, Kočí, Aujezdský in cooperation with the Association for Electronic Commerce (APEK) as legal bulletin No. 08 and 09/2024 intended for members of this association.
This text was translated from Czech to English using an AI translator.