The Czech Republic’s highly anticipated transposition amendment to the Labor Code was signed by the President and published in the Collection of Laws on September 19, 2023 under No. 281/2023 Coll. Some amendments will be effective from October 2023, others from January 2024. Employers should therefore be prepared for changes in HR processes and employment law documents.

A significant part of the amendment is based on the mandatory transposition of two European Directives on transparent and predictable working conditions and on work-life balance for parents and carers. The amendment also introduces new elements of the digitalization of labor law and responds to the changing needs of the market. Employers now have less than two weeks to implement some of the changes brought about by the law.

We have already informed you about the draft amendment (which was adopted in its original wording) and its key points, but for the purpose of clarity we remind you of the most important ones below.

New rules on remote working:

• Written agreement with the employee is required;
• The agreement may be terminated by either party with 15 days' notice;
• It is now possible to provide lump-sum reimbursement of expenses related to remote work;
• There will now be special rules for certain groups of employees (pregnant employees, parents with children under the age of nine or employees caring for relatives) regarding requests for remote work.

Extended information obligation:

• The period for compliance with the information obligation towards employees has been reduced (from the current 1 month to 7 days);
• The amendment introduces a list of information that employers will be newly obliged to provide;
• The information obligation is now extended also to employees performing the work outside of the employment relationship (in Czech referred to as “DPP” and “DPC”).

A more precise definition of the regime for work performed outside of the employment relationship (DPP/DPC), thus improving the predictability of their work:

• Employers are now obliged to give at least three days' notice to employees performing their work outside of the employment relationship to schedule work and inform them in writing;
• Employees performing their work outside of the employment relationship will be entitled to paid annual leave from 1 January 2024;
• If the employees performing their work outside of the employment relationship have been working for the employer on the basis of DPC or DPP for more than six months, he/she will be able to request a regular employment contract in writing.

A key change to delivery of documents to employees, which greatly simplifies the electronic delivery of documents:

• The law sets out the possibility of concluding key bilateral employment documents (employment contracts, DPC/DPP, amendments, termination agreements) electronically;
• Under certain circumstances, documents may be served by email;
• The data box can be used basically without restriction (even without the employee's consent, if the employee has set it up and has not blocked his/her data box for delivery of documents);
• However, we still recommend that you approach the service of employment law documents with caution.

Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the implementation of the amendment to the Labor Code in your company. We are also happy to assist you with the preparation of employment law documentation or the implementation of new HR processes.

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