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Employment Contract, Commencement and Termination of Employment

In the employment contract, the employer is obliged to agree with the employee on the type of work for which the employee is hired, place or places of performance of work and the date of commencement of work. If the employment contract does not stipulate the regular workplace for the purposes of travel allowances, the place of performance of work stipulated in the employment contract shall be deemed to be the regular workplace. However, if the place of performance of work is stipulated beyond the scope of a single municipality, the municipality where the employee’s business trips most often begin shall be considered to be the regular workplace.

The employer is obliged to conclude the employment contract in writing. However, the lack of written form does not make the contract void. The employer is obliged to submit one counterpart of the written employment contract to the employee. An employment relationship is established on the date that was agreed as the date of commencement of work in the employment contract. If the employee fails to commence work on the agreed date without being prevented from its commencement by an impediment to work, or if s/he fails to notify the employer of such an impediment within one week, the employer may withdraw from the employment contract.

An employment relationship shall exist for an indefinite term unless its specific term has been explicitly arranged. An employment relationship between the same parties for a fixed term may be arranged for a term not exceeding three years from the date of commencement of the employment relationship, and the employment relationship may not be renegotiated or extended more than twice; this also applies to each additional employment relationship for a fixed term agreed within the mentioned period by and between the same parties. After expiry of three years of termination of the preceding employment relationship for a fixed term, that employment relationship for a fixed term is further disregarded.

This does not apply if serious operational reasons or reasons arising from the special nature of the work exist on the employer’s part due to which the employer cannot be fairly required to propose establishment of an employment contract for an indefinite term to the employee. The above reasons shall be specified in more detail and other details of the procedure provided in a written agreement of the employer with the trade union or an internal regulation of the employer where there is no trade union.

Where a trial period has been arranged, this period may not be longer than 3 consecutive months from the date of commencement of the employment relationship or 6 months from the same date for a senior employee. It must be arranged by the date which was agreed as the date of commencement of work. A trial period must be arranged in writing, otherwise it is not valid. A trial period may not be further extended with the exception of extension by the period of impediments to work as a result of which the employee does not perform work during the trial period. A trial period may not be arranged  for a period longer than one half of the arranged term of the employment relationship.

If the employment contract does not stipulate the details of the rights and obligations following from the employment relationship, the employer is obliged to provide these details in writing to the employee, at the latest within one month of commencement of the employment relationship. The above-mentioned information must include especially the name of the employee and the name and registered office (address) of the employer, a detailed specification of the type and place of performance of work, length of holiday to which the employee is entitled, information on notice periods and also information on collective agreements that provide for the employee’s working conditions, and specification of the parties to these collective agreements, information on salary and the manner of remuneration (including the date of payment of the salary and place and manner of its payment) and determination of the weekly working hours and their distribution.

An employment relationship may be terminated by agreement, notice, summary dismissal by the employer or by termination within the trial period. An employment relationship concluded for a fixed term shall end upon expiry of the agreed term.

If an employer and employee agree on termination of the employment relationship, the employment relationship shall end on the agreed date. The reasons for termination of the employment relationship must be specified in the agreement on termination of the employment relationship (it must be made in writing) if so required by the employee. If the employment relationship is terminated by agreement due to winding-up or relocation of the employer’s company or any part thereof, or due to redundancy of the employee, the employee is entitled to severance pay equal to at least

• the amount of his/her average monthly earnings if his/her employment relationship with the employer lasted for less than 1 year
• twice his/her average monthly earnings if his/her employment relationship with the employer lasted for at least 1 year and less than 2 years
• three times his/her average monthly earnings if his/her employment relationship with the employer lasted for at least 2 years
• the sum of three times his/her average monthly earnings and the above amounts if the employment relationship is terminated at a time when the employee is subject to a procedure in the account of working hours where it is agreed in the collective agreement that overtime hours worked in the account of working hours in a compensatory period which does not exceed 52 weeks may be included, to the maximum extent of 120 hours, in the working hours in the next compensatory period.
  

If the employment relationship is terminated by agreement because the employee may not further perform the current work due to an accident at work, occupational disease or threat of such a disease based on a medical report or if the maximum permissible exposure of the employee has been reached, the employee is entitled to severance pay in the amount of at least twelve times the average earnings (however, if the employer is relieved from liability for an accident at work or occupational disease, the employee is not entitled to the severance pay).

An employment relationship can be terminated by notice by the employer or by the employee. The notice need to be in writing. The reasons for notice cannot be changed later.

An employer may terminate an employment relationship with an employee solely on the following grounds:

• where the employer’s company or part thereof is wound up
• where the employer’s company or part thereof is relocated
• where the employee becomes redundant
• if the employee may not further perform the current work due to an accident at work, occupational disease or threat of such a disease based on a medical report or if the maximum permissible exposure of the employee has been reached, the employee is entitled to severance pay in the amount of at least twelve times the average earnings (however, if the employer is relieved from liability for an accident at work or occupational disease, the employee is not entitled to the severance pay)
• if the employee is unfit to further perform the current work in the long term given his/her state of health
• if the employee does not meet the preconditions stipulated by the legal regulations for the performance of the agreed work or if the employee does not meet the requirements for the proper performance of this work without the employer being at fault
• if grounds exist on the employee’s part for which the employer could immediately terminate the employment relationship with that employee, or on the grounds of serious breach of working duty following from the legal regulations applicable to the work performed by the employee or on the grounds of a recurring minor breach of a duty
• if the employee breaches in an especially gross manner the obligation to comply with the set regime of an insured person who is temporarily unfit to work
  

The notice period must be the same for the employer and the employee and must equal at least two months. The notice period commences on the first day of the calendar month following the delivery of the notice.

An employer may not give notice to an employee especially at a time when the employee has been found temporarily unfit to work, in the performance of a military exercise, at a time when the employee is fully released for the discharge of a public office in the long term, at a time when a female employee is pregnant or when a female employee is on maternity leave or when a female or male employee is on parental leave, or at a time when an employee working at night is found temporarily unfit to perform night work based on a medical report. The prohibition of giving notice does not apply to notice given to an employee due to an organisational change caused by winding-up or relocation of the employer’s company or any part thereof, or on the grounds on which the employer may terminate the employment relationship by summary dismissal, as well as on grounds of other breach of duties following from labour-law regulations pertaining to the work performed.

An employee may give notice to an employer on any grounds or without stating the grounds.

An employer may terminate an employment relationship by summary dismissal only exceptionally, only if the employee has been validly convicted of an intentional criminal offence or has breached an obligation following from the legal regulations pertaining to the work performed in an especially gross manner.

An employee may immediately terminate his/her employment if, according to a medical statement, continuance of the work might seriously threaten his/her health and the employer has not offered him/her another suitable job within 15 days of submission of such a statement or the employer has failed to pay salary or compensation for salary or any part thereof within 15 days of expiry of the payment date. An employee is entitled to compensation for salary equal to the length of the period of notice.

Both an employer and an employee may terminate the employment relationship during the trial period in writing on any grounds or without stating the grounds. Termination of an employment relationship in the trial period must be made in writing. The employment relationship terminates on the date of delivery of the termination unless a later date is indicated therein.

An employment relationship of a foreigner or a stateless natural person ends, unless it has already ended in some other manner, on the date when his residence in the territory of the Czech Republic is to terminate pursuant to an enforceable decision on revoking a residence permit, on the date of legal force of a judgement imposing a sentence of banishment from the Czech Republic on this person, or on expiry of the term for which an employment permit, employment card or a long-term residence permit for the purpose of performance of an employment requiring a high level of qualification was issued.

If an employee fails to commence work on the agreed date without being prevented from its commencement by an impediment to work, or if the employer is not notified of such an impediment within one week, the employer may withdraw from the employment contract.

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  Labour Office of the Czech Republic
  Regional branch in Brno
  Rosice contact office Tyršova 75
  665 01 Rosice u Brna
  
  JUDr. Daniela Kubišová
  daniela.kubisova@bo.mpsv.cz

• I.South Moravia: Geography, Labour Force, Economy
• II. Legal Regulation of Business Activities, Establishment of Business Entities
• III. Accounting and Auditing
• IV. Tax System in the Czech Republic
• V. Employment and Labour Regulations
  • Employment Contract, Commencement and Termination of Employment
  • Working Hours
  • Salary and Salary Grades
  • Social Security and Health Insurance
  • Public Holidays, School Year
  • Collective Redundancy
  • Some Other Important Provisions
• VI. Visa and Integration after Arrival
• VII. Co-operation with South Moravian Institutions
• VIII. Practical Information: Working and Living in South Moravia