Flexibilní novela zákoníku práce představena

Flexible amendment to the Labour Code introduced

On 16 April 2024, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs presented the most important points to be included in the next major amendment to the Labour Code. The amendment is intended to respond to the needs of the modern labour market and the demands received by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs from employers' and employees' representatives. The aim of the amendment to the Labour Code is to increase the flexibility of labour relations, in the interests of both employees and employers. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the amendment should become effective in January 2025.

The amendment should affect a number of areas throughout the Labour Code, including the regulation of the establishment and termination of employment relationships. With respect to the establishment of the employment relationship, the maximum trial period that can be agreed between an employer and an employee should be extended from the current three consecutive months to four months. In case of managerial employees, the trial period should be extended from the current maximum of six months to eight months.

With respect to the termination of employment by a notice for misconduct on the part of the employee, the length of the minimum notice period should be reduced from the current two months to just one month. In other cases, the two-month notice period should be kept. However, in all cases, the notice period should newly commence to run on the date of delivery of the notice to the other party, and not only on the first day of the calendar month following its delivery, as is currently the case.

Other changes should concern the clarification of employees' entitlements in case of invalid employment termination or the new regulation of the right to a special compensation in the event of employment termination on the grounds of long-term deprivation of medical capacity to perform current work due to an accident at work or occupational disease. This special compensation should subsequently be reimbursed to the employers from the employer's statutory insurance.

The amendment should further support the reconciliation of family and working life for parents of young children. They should now be able to conclude agreement to complete a job or agreement to perform work with their current employer during the period of parental leave, under which they would be able to perform the same type of work as they did before taking parental leave. At the same time, those employees should have guaranteed return to the same job as before they went on parental leave, i.e., the same job at the same workplace, if they return from parental leave within two years of the child's age.

In the area of working time and rest periods, the amendment should introduce the possibility for employees to schedule their working time independently, based on an agreement with the employer, or, the possibility for the employer to reduce the daily rest period of employees to just six hours in the event of emergencies. The next daily rest period should be extended by the amount of time reduced from the previous daily rest period, as is currently the case.

The amendment should also, for example, extend the range of cases in which the employer and the employee can agree on salary payment in a currency other than Czech crowns, allow the performance of light work by minors from the age of 14 even without completed primary education during the main summer holidays, or adjust the calculation of average earnings when changing the weekly working hours.

The above list of amendments to the Labour Code is not exhaustive and their detailed form will depend on the paragraph text of the amendment, which is expected to be submitted to the Government in May this year. Even so, the individual areas presented may see further significant changes throughout the legislative process.

We are monitoring further developments in the legislative process on this matter and will keep you informed. If you would like further information, please contact the authors of this article or other members of the EY team with whom you work.

Authors:

Kateřina Suchanová

Barbora Suchá