What will 2021 bring for employers in terms of labour and foreigners’ law?
For employers, the past year has been one of the most turbulent in modern Czech history in terms of the number of legislative changes adopted. New regulations relating to the coronavirus pandemic were being adopted non-stop, and literally amended on a day-to-day basis. In this legislative whirlwind, it could have been very easy to overlook both the additional novelties that legislators have prepared for employers for 2021, and several landmark Supreme Court rulings.
From 1 January 2021, fundamental changes brought by the amendment to the Labour Code take effect (while some provisions of the amendment took effect already in July 2020). An employee’s vacation entitlement shall be based on their weekly working hours and calculated in hours instead of days. A brand-new concept has been introduced – job-sharing, where two or more employees may share one job position and alternate as per their own schedule, to better balance family and work life. The one-time damage compensation to employee’s survivors was increased to at least 20 times the national economy’s average wage. The amendment also introduces leave for holiday camp leaders and other persons organising events for children and young people: employees shall be entitled to a paid leave of up to one week per calendar year to participate in these events.
With the beginning of the new year, the minimum and guaranteed wage have increased. For employees with a 40-hour working week, the minimum monthly wage has increased from CZK 14,600 to CZK 15,200, the hourly wage from CZK 87.30 to CZK 90.50. The lowest levels of guaranteed wage, divided into eight groups and graded according to the complexity, responsibility, and difficulty of the work performed, shall range from CZK 15,200 to CZK 30,400 per month, or from CZK 90.50 to CZK 181.00 per hour.
Brexit, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU, also affects the employment of UK citizens in the Czech Republic. From the beginning of the year, there is no free movement of workers between the United Kingdom and the EU. Thus, UK citizens shall be regarded as third-country nationals who must have a valid work and residence permit to work in the Czech Republic. An exception applies to those who have resided and worked in the Czech Republic before the end of 2020: these UK citizens and their family members retain the work and residence rights established before the end of the last year, with the exception of posted workers. Workers posted to the Czech Republic before the end of 2020 are guaranteed more favourable treatment, including allowing them to complete the expected period of posting even after 31 December 2020, but they formally have to hold a work permit issued by the relevant branch of the Labour Office.
From 1 January, foreigners holding certain types of long-term or permanent residence permits must undergo adaptation-integration courses for foreigners. The courses are regulated by the Foreigners’ Residence Act and the Decree on the Implementation of Adaptation-Integration Courses.
We conclude our summary with last year's landmark Supreme Court decision on (un)equal pay. Although the decision was made in a specific dispute, the Supreme Court's conclusions can be applied generally. The court did not dispute the fact that even on the same position, different work or work of a different value may be performed, for which different remuneration may be payable. However, where employers with workplaces in more than one region remunerate their employees on the same positions differently, they must be prepared to present and prove specific reasons/grounds for doing so; and these may only be based on the criteria admitted by the Labour Code, not on the social or economic circumstances in the given region. For more information, refer to our article in the September issue of the Tax and Legal Update.
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