Amendment to the Labour Code 2023 - changes

Mgr. Marek Zeman 13.04.2023

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We advise on the changes in labor law brought by the AMENDMENT OF THE LABOR CODE in 2023. We explain everything and recommend the most suitable solution.

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AMENDMENT TO THE LABOUR CODE 2023 – CHANGES

After a long period of preparation, at its meeting in early April 2023, the Government of the Czech Republic approved an amendment to the Labour Code, which will significantly affect the relationship between employer and employee. As the majority of amendments to the Labour Code are due to come into effect in 2023, below we present the most important news that it brings.

AREAS MOST EFFECTED BY THE NOVEL

The changes relate mainly to remote work (home office) and work performance agreements, the emphasis is placed on simpler conclusion and changes to employment contracts electronically, and last but not least, the scope of information that the employer is obliged to communicate to the employee is expanded.

HOME OFFICE

Form and content of the agreement on working from home

In order for the employee to be able to work from home, it will be necessary to conclude a written agreement with him. Even if the amendment to the Labour Code imposes practically no content requirements on the agreement, it will be very practical to explicitly modify some aspects in the interest of functioning cooperation. In particular, it will be appropriate to specify the place of work, the working time schedule, health and safety, or the possibility of terminating the agreement on working from home.

Reimbursement of employee expenses when working from home

For the performance of work from home, the employee is entitled to compensation for the costs incurred in connection with it. The amendment to the Labour Code envisages a flat-rate compensation of CZK 2.80 for 1 hour of work from home, which is basically intended to compensate for energy costs, and the amount of which will be regularly indexed. An alternative to the flat rate is the reimbursement of actual costs, but this will be quite burdensome for the employee, as he will have to calculate the actual costs in a complex and retroactive manner from the cost statements from individual energy suppliers. A flat-rate compensation will therefore probably be more practical. However, this does not include other expenses, typically the costs of internet connection or the wear and tear of equipment and hardware, so these will need to be dealt with beyond the statutory flat-rate payment.

AGREEMENTS TO COMPLETE A JOB AND TO PERFORM WORK

In the area of agreements, there are significant shifts and their approach to the classic employment relationship.

Holiday

One of the significant changes is that even employees working under an agreement will have the right to vacation under certain conditions. The emergence of the right to vacation will depend, similarly to employees, on the continuous duration of the agreement and the number of hours worked. Unused vacation is paid after the end of the agreement, just like with an employment relationship.

Schedule of working hours / shifts

Another significant innovation is the employer's obli­gation to draw up a working time schedule even for employees working on a contract basis. The employee must be notified of this schedule at least 3 days in advance, unless the parties agree otherwise. From the employer's point of view, for the sake of flexibility, it is certainly possible to recommend shortening this period to 1 day.

Work allowances

Another novelty is the provision of additional pay for night work or for work on weekends, even for employees working on an agreement. Even from this point of view, it will be necessary to deal more with the working time schedule and to schedule the work outside the night and days of rest, so that additional costs do not arise unnecessarily on the part of the employer.

Obstacles at work

The agreement will also be subject to the regulation regarding obstacles to work, which in some cases may mean an obligation for the employer to provide compensation to the employee. So, for example, in a situation where an employee comes to work according to the schedule, but the employer does not have enough work for him for the entire work shift, the employee could be entitled to compensation for wages due to an obstacle to work on the part of the employer. This only further reinforces the importance of the work schedule within the agreements.

EXTENSION OF THE INFORMATION OBLIGATION

In some cases, the employer will be forced to give the employee new information that he did not have to give him before. This is both general information regarding the employment relationship and reasons for adopting certain decisions of the employer.

Employment information

Within 7 days from the date of employment, the employer will again be obliged to inform the employee in writing about the facts determined by law, e.g. about the trial period and its duration and conditions, about the procedure for terminating the employment relationship, about professional development, about working hours and their distribution into shifts , about rest periods or about which body the social security premium will be paid to.

The employer will be obliged to inform the employee in writing whenever any of the above information changes. Informing employees will therefore be a problem that the employer will have to solve on an ongoing basis.

The information obligation also applies to persons working under an agreement.

It is clear that some information will usually be directly in the employment contract, but it is not usual and it will not be practical to include everything in the employment contract. Some information, typically data on the layout of working hours, terms of termination of employment or social insurance payments, will be practical to hand over separately on a separate document.

Information on the reasons for the employer's de­cision

The employer's obli­gation to justify its decision applies, for example, to the decision:

1. do not allow an employee caring for a child to work from home (home office) or to work for shorter working hours
2. give notice to an employee working on an agreement if this employee believes that the reason for the termination was in fact the assertion of his rights or their use,
3. not comply with the request of an employee working under an employment agreement.

The justification for the employer's decision should be clear, if possible objective, and above all it should not give rise to the feeling of discriminatory or preferential treatment of some employees.

DIGITALIZATION OF DELIVERY

The employment contract, as well as agreements on work carried out outside the employment relationship, will be able to be concluded and changed electronically, including via e-mail.

The condition is that the employee consents to the electronic delivery of documents in a separate written statement in advance and informs the notified employer of the address for electronic delivery (e-mail); however, this address must not be available to the employer, i.e. it cannot be under his domain.

For the sake of completeness, we add that the rules for the delivery of documents relating to the termination of an employment relationship or agreement do not change and hand delivery is required. We addressed this issue in a previous article available here.

CONCLUSION

It is not yet known when exactly and to what extent the Labor Code will be amended in 2023. What is certain, however, is that for employers, the adoption of the amendment will in practice mean not only a further increase in the administrative burden, but also the need to change internal procedures and create new model documents in order to fulfill all the obligations that the Labor Code will impose on employers after the amendment.

If you are dealing with updating your internal processes, we will be happy to help you both with their settings and with the revision or preparation of the necessary sample documents.

KEYWORDS: amendment to the Labour Code 2023, amendments to the Labour Code 2023, amendment to the Labour Code 2023, work from home, work from home, home office, home-office, reimbursement of home office expenses, reimbursement of expenses for working from home, agreement on working from home , agreement on work performed outside of the employment relationship, agreement on work activities, agreement on work performance, DPP vacation, DPČ vacation, additional payments for DPP work, additional payments for DPČ work, working time schedule, work shift schedule, obstacles in DPP work, obstacles in DPČ work, information obligation of the employer, justification of the employer's de­cision, conclusion of the employment contract by e-mail

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