Transparentnost odměňování – 2. část – dotčené subjekty a klíčové pojmy

The proposed amendment to the Labour Code, which transposes the EU Directive on pay transparency into Czech law, affects a very broad range of entities. The majority of obligations should apply to all employers, regardless of their legal form or the sector in which they operate. Simply put, the amendment will largely impact all employers in both the public and private sectors. However, the provisions concerning regular reports on pay gaps should apply only to employers in the public and private sectors with more than 100 employees.

At the same time, the measures arising from the amendment will affect all employees, i.e., employees under an employment contract, employees working under agreements outside employment contracts, and employees in all forms of service relationships. Selected provisions will also apply at the stage before the employment relationship arises, i.e., to individuals who are still applying for a job.

A key term of the amendment is remuneration paid in connection with employment. This is broadly defined in the Directive and includes both remuneration for work (under the Labour Code, this means wages, salaries, or remuneration under agreements) and other monetary payments and benefits of monetary value provided in addition to remuneration for work. The amendment also follows this broad definition, especially in connection with the information obligation and monitoring of pay differences between men and women.

The second key term used by the Directive is the value of work, or work of equal value. The existing Labour Code already sets objective criteria based on which the same work or work of equal value is assessed. These criteria remain unchanged and are not modified by the amendment. Work of equal value therefore continues to mean work of the same or comparable complexity, responsibility, and arduousness, performed under the same or comparable working conditions and with the same or comparable work performance and results.

In the next part of our short series, we will introduce the first of the newly introduced obligations, namely the establishment of a remuneration system. Follow our alerts so you don’t miss this or any other part.

Authors:

Kateřina Suchanová

Matěj Šimpach