In June 2020, the long-awaited amendment to the Labour Code was adopted, which brings numerous changes to the area of employment relationships. Part of the amendment entered into force on 30 July 2020. The remaining part of the amendment will enter into force on 1 January 2021. Below we provide an overview of what we consider to be the most interesting changes affecting the most common employment law situations.
Delivery of documents (effective from 30. 7. 2020) It now applies that if a document cannot be delivered to an employee personally directly at the workplace (e.g. due to his long-term unexcused absence), the employer may without further ado use one of the alternative methods of delivery. In such a case, the document may be delivered anywhere the employee is found, through a postal service provider, through an electronic communications network or service, or through a data box. At the same time, the amendment removes certain practical problems that arose in the delivery of documents. For example, in the case of delivery by postal transport, documents are now delivered to the address provided by the employee, the time limit for the fiction of delivery of a document in case of non-collection of the consignment has been unified from 10 working days to 15 calendar days so that this time limit corresponds to the business terms and conditions of the Czech Post, and at the same time the obligation to draw up a written record of instructing the employee about the consequences of refusing to accept the document has been removed. The amendment therefore significantly simplifies the process of delivering documents to employees, particularly in cases where the employee is deliberately trying to avoid delivery of the document.
Introduction of a shared workplace (effective from 1. 1. 2021) A shared workplace represents an entirely new institute. The purpose is to enable certain employees to organise their working time in mutual cooperation according to their personal needs, after prior agreement with the employer. Sharing of a workplace is considered to be a situation where two or more employees with the same type of work share one workplace, taking turns in performing work within the scope of their work commitment so that the workplace is occupied by one of them during working hours. The condition is that they must be employees in an employment relationship with the same type of work and agreed shorter working time (so-called reduced commitment), whilst the sum of the agreed shorter working time of all affected employees must not exceed the established weekly working time (i.e. typically 40 hours per week).
New rules for calculating leave (effective from 1. 1. 2021) The concept of leave for days worked is being abandoned. From now on, only leave for a calendar year (or its proportionate part) and additional leave will be provided. At the same time, leave will no longer be calculated in days, but will now be calculated in hours. This will lead to more precise calculation of leave. The length of leave for an employee who works the established or agreed shorter weekly working time during 52 weeks in a calendar year will now be calculated as the multiple of the employee’s established or agreed weekly working time and the entitlement to leave to which the employee is entitled in the relevant calendar year. If an employee works more than fifty-two times the established weekly working time or shorter weekly working time in a calendar year according to the shift schedule, his length of leave shall be extended by one fifty-second of the leave for a calendar year for each additional established weekly working time or shorter weekly working time worked. Thus, for example, if an employee whose established weekly working time is 40 hours works a total of 2,089 hours (i.e. 52 times his established weekly working time) within 52 weeks in a calendar year within the weekly working time scheduled in shifts, and leave with the employer is 5 weeks, then such employee is entitled to leave for a calendar year of 200 hours (40 x 5 = 200). The 9 hours worked above whole multiples of the established weekly working time are not taken into account.
Limitation of possibilities for removing a managerial employee (effective from 30. 7. 2020) In accordance with existing case law, an employer could, upon fulfilment of statutory conditions, unilaterally remove any managerial employee from a managerial position. In accordance with the amendment, it will now only be possible to unilaterally remove top managerial employees from a managerial position. For “ordinary” managerial employees, removal will no longer be possible.
Increase in the minimum amount of average and probable earnings (effective from 30. 7. 2020) In accordance with the amendment, it now applies that average earnings or probable earnings must always be at a level corresponding to at least the relevant level of the minimum guaranteed wage. Until now, it applied that average or guaranteed earnings had to be at the level of at least the minimum wage. In most cases, therefore, there will be a relatively significant increase in the minimum amount of average and guaranteed earnings.
David Svoboda
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. 8/2020 intended for members of this association.
This text was translated from Czech to English using an AI translator.