Most common equal treatment violations by employers
With the arrival of the new year, we are getting closer to the transposition of the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which will bring a whole range of new obligations for employers, such as the development of a detailed wage policy, providing detailed information to employees, and mandatory reporting to state authorities. Equal treatment and the prohibition of discrimination at the workplace, however, have already been the focus of the State Labour Inspection Office.
Equal treatment and the prohibition of discrimination are high on the agenda of inspection authorities. Last year alone, the labour inspectorate received 322 requests for inspections and carried out 640 inspections focused purely on this area. With the arrival of the Pay Transparency Directive, which is due to be transposed by 7 June 2026, these figures will rise even further. What are the most common violations by employers?
Wage confidentiality
One of the most common violations by employers was the negotiation of wage confidentiality clauses. Labour inspectorates found violations of the law in 63 cases. Although wage confidentiality clauses have only been officially prohibited since 1 June 2025, the inspectorates’ approach also points to their earlier problematic nature. Under the Labour Code, it is not possible to contractually stipulate provisions that deviate from the Labour Code, which according to the State Labour Inspection Office is what the wage confidentiality clauses did.
Provision of benefits
When checking compliance with equal treatment requirements, labour inspectorates paid close attention to attendance bonuses and will continue to do so in the future. Attendance bonuses are usually given to employees who do not miss any shifts during the period under review (e.g. due to illness or other obstacles to work). However, this practice discriminates against employees who are unable to come to work for objective and legally foreseeable reasons.
Employers also erred in the provision of equal access to benefits. In many cases, employees on parental leave, employees receiving old-age pensions, or employees in their probationary or notice periods were excluded from certain benefits.
Remuneration in regions
Labour inspectorates also finally turned their attention to large retail chains. In 2024, they uncovered two employers who had divided their stores throughout the Czech Republic into three different remuneration groups. Employees from Prague and the surrounding areas generally received higher wages than employees from less populated regions. One of the retail chains was fined CZK 200,000 for this practice.
Labour inspectorates are generally stepping up their inspection activities, so employers should pay close attention to these issues. In 2024, the inspectorates imposed 56 fines totalling CZK 1,448,000, with an average fine of CZK 28,000. This is almost a threefold increase compared to 2022. However, a fine is not the only (and most significant) consequence that employers may face. It is common practice for inspectorates to focus more on such employers in the future to verify that they do not become repeat offenders.