Employee Rights in the Czech Republic

The Labour Code requires an employment contract to be concluded in writing, and the employer must give the employee a copy and keep one. Contracts can be in a language other than Czech, and must be agreed before work begins. Every contract must cover three essential details:

• type of work
• place or places of work
• start date

It is not mandatory to state the employee’s pay in the contract itself, although the amount must be agreed before work begins. Where it is left out, a separate document, usually a wage assessment (mzdový výměr), sets out the gross pay, which must be expressed in Czech koruna.

If the contract does not contain all the legally required information about the rights and obligations arising from the employment relationship, the employer must give the employee that information in writing no later than 7 calendar days from the day the employment relationship starts. This information covers:

• employee’s full name
• company’s full legal name and address
• job title
• place of work
• annual leave
• notice period
• weekly working hours and their distribution (schedule)
• wage or salary details and the remuneration method, including the maturity of wage or salary, paydays, and the place and method of wage or salary payment
• collective agreements regulating the employee’s working conditions, if applicable
• business trips
• benefits
• probationary, if applicable
• personal data processing clause and consent

On starting work, the employee must be made familiar with the health and safety rules they have to follow, and with the collective agreement and internal regulations. The employer’s duty to assign work and to protect health and safety, and the conditions for termination, are implied terms of every contract and bind the parties whether or not they are written down.

The consent may be required only exceptionally, such as in the case when the employer wishes to process personal data that isn’t necessary to process in order to fulfil legal or contractual obligations. The conditions for termination, the employer’s obligation to assign work to the employee and ensure health and safety at work are all implied terms in every employment contract, which don’t need to be spelled out to be binding.

Terms and conditions can be changed only in writing and only by mutual agreement between employer and employee. A company that does not conclude an employment relationship in writing risks having it treated as illegal work, which the Czech labour inspection authorities can fine by up to CZK 10,000,000.

Employees are entitled to an itemised payslip by the end of the month following the month in which the work was done, showing the wage components and the pay date. The payslip must break down any deductions from pay. It can be issued in digital or physical form, and wages are rounded to whole koruna. Unless otherwise agreed, wages are paid at the workplace during working hours.

All employees have the right to be treated equally at work regarding their working conditions, pay, and access to benefits, training, and promotion, without distinction on the grounds of sex, age, disability, or any other protected characteristic. Employers must pay equally for work of equal value performed under equal conditions.

Employees with a disability have the right to reasonable accommodation of their workplace. At their own expense, employers must make the technical and organisational adjustments needed to adapt working conditions and workplaces, set up sheltered working positions where appropriate, and provide the training or instruction that lets these employees perform and develop in their work.

Employers have a duty to protect employees’ health and safety at work, whether the employee works from the office or from home. Their duties include:

• instructing and training employees on health and safety rules
• carrying out regular internal health and safety checks
• providing suitably equipped workstations
• holding the statutory employer liability insurance covering work injuries and occupational disease
• drawing up and applying a risk-prevention policy that sets out how risks are identified, assessed and minimised, including in a home-working environment

Czech law protects employees against discrimination throughout the employment relationship, from recruitment through to working conditions, pay, promotion and dismissal. The framework sits in the Anti-Discrimination Act (Act No. 198/2009 Coll.) together with the Labour Code, which prohibit direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, victimisation, and any instruction or incitement to discriminate.

Discrimination is prohibited on grounds including sex (which covers pregnancy, maternity, paternity and gender identity), sexual orientation, race or ethnic origin, nationality, age, disability, religion, belief or worldview, political or other opinion, trade union membership, health status and social origin.

If an employee presents facts indicating they were treated less favourably on one of these grounds, the burden shifts to the employer to prove that no unlawful discrimination took place. The employee can go to court and ask for the conduct to stop, for its consequences to be put right and, where their dignity or standing has been seriously harmed, for financial compensation. The Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman) acts as the national equality body.

The Czech Republic has implemented the EU Whistleblower Directive through the Whistleblower Protection Act (Act No. 171/2023 Coll.), in force since 1 August 2023. Employers with 50 or more employees must set up an internal reporting channel and appoint a designated person to receive and look into reports. Some regulated employers, such as those in financial services, must do so regardless of their headcount.

The law protects people who report suspected unlawful conduct, covering criminal offences, certain administrative offences and breaches of EU law in defined areas. Anyone who reports in good faith is protected against retaliation, including dismissal, demotion, a pay cut or any other detrimental treatment, and their identity must be kept confidential. In a dispute the burden of proof is reversed, so the employer has to show that a measure was not a reprisal for a report. Failing to run a compliant system can bring a fine of up to CZK 1,000,000.

Under Czech law, when an employer transfers its activities or part of its business to another employer, employees assigned to the transferred activity move to the new employer automatically. All rights and obligations from the existing employment relationships continue without interruption.

The transfer itself cannot be a reason for dismissal. Dismissals may still occur for legitimate reasons unrelated to the transfer, such as a genuine organisational restructuring. The new employer takes on all employment terms, including salary, length of service and accrued rights, and employees do not have to sign new contracts because of the transfer.

Both the transferring and the receiving employer must inform, and where employee representatives exist consult, the affected employees in advance, at least 30 days before the transfer, about its reasons and its expected legal, economic and social consequences. If working conditions substantially deteriorate after the transfer and the employee resigns within a set period, a court can find that the employment ended because of the transfer, in which case the employee is entitled to statutory severance.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) applies in the Czech Republic, giving employees the right to privacy and control over who receives their personal data. An employer may process personal data for:

• deciding whether to establish an employment relationship
• performing or ending the employment relationship
• meeting information duties towards employee representatives under statute, a collective agreement or a works agreement

Any further use of personal data requires the employee’s consent, which can be insisted on only exceptionally, such as where the employer wants to process data that is not needed to meet a legal or contractual obligation. Employers must keep records of their processing activities, tell employees about the processing taking place, and secure the data with appropriate technical and organisational measures. Personal data can move freely within the EU and the European Economic Area. For transfers beyond them, the recipient must ensure an adequate level of protection.

Companies can transfer personal data within the members of the European Union and the European Economic Area, which adhere to the GDPR rules if they have legal reasons to do so. For data to be transferred outside these parameters, the recipient of the data must ensure an adequate level of protection.

Employers cannot dismiss an employee at will. To give notice, the employer must rely on one of the grounds set out exhaustively in Section 52 of the Labour Code, state that ground clearly in writing, and it cannot be swapped for another later. The recognised grounds are:

• the employer, or a part of it, is dissolved
• the employer, or a part of it, relocates
• the employee becomes redundant following an organisational change
• the employee can no longer do the work for health reasons, whether an ordinary long-term loss of medical fitness or one caused by a work injury or occupational disease (the two were merged into a single ground in 2025), or has reached the maximum permitted workplace exposure
• the employee no longer meets the statutory prerequisites for the job, such as a required qualification or permit
• the employee fails to meet the employer’s requirements or delivers unsatisfactory results, having been asked in writing to put this right within the previous twelve months
• the employee seriously breaches their obligations or work discipline, or repeats lesser breaches after being warned
• the employee grossly breaches the regime required of a worker on certified sick leave, such as the duty to stay at the agreed address

Employment can also end in ways that are not employer notice, including by mutual written agreement, on the expiry of a fixed-term contract, during the probationary period (which either side can end without giving a reason), or by immediate termination reserved for the most serious misconduct.

Some employees cannot be given notice by the employer during certain periods of their lives, known as the protective period. These cover employees who are:

• temporarily unfit for work on certified sick leave, unless they caused it themselves, for example through intoxication
• pregnant, or on maternity, paternity or parental leave
• performing a military exercise or extraordinary service
• fully released to hold a public office
• night workers medically recognised as temporarily unfit for night work

If notice is given before the protected period begins and the notice period would otherwise end during it, the notice period pauses and finishes only once the protected period is over. A few narrow exceptions apply, for example where the employer is closing down entirely.