Employment and labour regulations

Employment contract

The employment relationship is established by an appointment and an employment contract (which you will need if obtaining Czech working/scientific visa). Prior to concluding the employment contract, the employer is obliged to acquaint the employee with his/her rights and obligations, working conditions, conditions of remuneration etc., in some cases the employee might be also asked to undergo an initial medical examination.

Both the employer and employee have to agree on terms and sign the contract containing and specifying information about the type of work, place or places of work performance, salary, date of employment commencement. The contract usually shall exist for an indefinite term but can be arranged for a fixed term not exceeding three years from the date of commencement of the employment relationship and can be extended only twice.

If a trial period has been arranged (in written form, otherwise it’s not valid) it cannot exceed 3 months or 6 months for a senior employee, the only exception for extending the trial period is if the employee does not or cannot perform agreed work during the trial period.

It is the employers right to terminate the employment relationship by an agreement, notice, summary dismissal or by termination letter at any time within the trial period. The reasons for termination of the employment relationship must be rightful and specified in the agreement on termination (in writing) for the employee.

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.

An employment relationship of a foreigner ends (unless it has already ended in some other manner) on the date when his/her residence in the territory of the Czech Republic is to terminate pursuant to a 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 was issued.

Working hours

The average working time in the Czech Republic is around 40 hours per week, 8 hours a day, depending on the nature of the workplace, age of employees and not taking overtime into account.

An employer may order an employee to work overtime only in case of serious operational reasons. Overtime work may only be performed exceptionally, only with consent of the employee, and cannot exceed eight hours in individual weeks and 150 hours in a calendar year.

Annual leave

In the Czech Republic the extent of an annual leave is usually 4 weeks, but it very much depends on the nature of your job. The length of your annual leave should be specified by your employer in advance.

The employee is obliged to notify the employer of the taking of leave at least 14 days in advance unless the employee agrees with the employer on a different period of notice. If the employee fails to take the leave by the end of the next calendar year, the entitlement to the leave will expire.