The expected amendment to the Labor Code is rapidly entering its final phase

By NOVINKY

Despite a relatively long legislative procedure, the amendment to the Labour Code, which is already well known to everyone, has passed through the Chamber of Deputies in two and a half months and is now heading to the Senate. Given that it contains passages transposing selected EU directives into Czech law, it can be expected that the final finish will be relatively quick.

If the Senate and the President have no objections to the amendment to the Labour Code, the bulk of the amendment to the Labour Code and related laws should come into force on 1 September 2023.

  • The employer’s information obligation towards the employee about the employment relationship will be widened. → Employers should modify their template documents containing the mandatory information, or, alternatively, allocate it to a separate information notice.
  • New obligations and restrictions will be added for agreements on work performed outside the employment relationship → Employers should also modify their templates for both types of agreements and their amendments, and the information obligation will also have to be fulfilled for agreement holders. It should also be taken into account that contract workers will also have to schedule their working time and will be entitled to holidays from 1 January 2024.
  • The regulation of home office will be explicitly enshrined. → Employers should reflect this possibility of performing work in their employment law documentation (most often through a new home office agreement) by 1 October 2023 at the latest. In this context, employers should also decide whether (and if so, how) they want to reimburse their employees for the costs associated with this type of work and set up internal processes accordingly.
  • The range of documents to be delivered by the employer on the employee under the special rules set out in the Labour Code will be narrowed and service will be simplified. → In this respect, employers will only have to get used to the new rules. It also opens up space for greater digitisation of the employment law agenda, which has often been bogged down by the strict rules on service.

Furthermore, employers will be obliged to give written reasons for some of their refusal decisions, namely those relating to: not allowing a reduction or other adjustment of working time or a return to the original working time arrangements; and not allowing teleworking.

The amendment to the Labour Code should also bring some other innovations (e.g. an increase in the amount of agreed overtime in the healthcare sector), but it is mainly the changes described above that should affect the vast majority of employers.

We are closely monitoring the conclusion of the legislative process and are ready to assist you in implementing the newly introduced changes.

Have a good employment law summer 🙂