EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS

LAST UPDATE ON November 24, 2021, 4 p.m.

Obligatory employee testing

applies to all employers and all employees, except those employees who do not come into contact with other persons at work
testing with rapid antigen tests (RATs), either as self-tests or conducted by health care providers, at least once a week. The first tests must be performed no later than Monday, November 29, 2021.
The obligation to test does not apply to
- fully vaccinated employees,
- employees who have had COVID-19 within the last 180 days,
- employees who have undergone a PCR-RT test or a rapid antigen test (RAT) performed by a health care professional within the last 7 days with a negative result.
Employers are required to keep records of the tests conducted, and the records must include the names of the persons tested and the dates of testing.
If an employee refuses to take the test, the employer must report this to the public health authority, the employee must wear a respirator at all times, keep a distance of at least 1.5 m from other persons and eat separately. The employer is obliged to restrict such employee’s contact with other persons to the extent necessary.
In case the employee tests positive with the employer, the employee shall, among other things, be required to leave the workplace and request a confirmatory test, and absence from the workplace until the confirmatory test result shall be deemed to be an impediment to work on the part of the employer

Change in quarantine certification

Certification of the quarantine order should be reported via eSick Leave by the regional hygiene authority, which will notify the relevant district social security administration of the quarantine order. This information will then also be communicated to employers in the standard way as if it were a temporary incapacity for work.
The attending physician will only issue an eSick Leave for quarantine reasons in a few specific cases. More information can be found here (in Czech only)

Extraordinary allowance to employees in case of quarantine and isolation

The Government has approved a bill that introduces an employee allowance of CZK 370 per day for the first 14 days of quarantine or isolation. The extraordinary allowance would be provided for the quarantine period that runs from 1 November 2021 to 30 June 2022. The allowance would thus be due for November and retrospectively.

Nursing allowance

The Government also approved a bill that introduces a special nursing care allowance to be provided in connection with emergency measures that result in the closure of schools or parts thereof or prohibit the presence of children, pupils and students in schools. The nursing allowance shall also be granted when a child, pupil or student is ordered to be quarantined. Attendance allowance will be granted for the period from 1 September 2021 to 31 January 2022. The amount of the attendance allowance is set at 80 % of the reduced daily assessment base, with a minimum of CZK 400 per calendar day. If the employee has reduced working hours, the minimum amount will be decreased proportionately.

Older measures

Antivirus Program – regime A

concerns the previously proposed regimes A and B, i.e.
1. quarantine of employees
2. ordered (by emergency measures) restriction or shutdown of employer’s operation
the employer shall receive 80% of employees’ average earnings including the health and social security insurance contributions (from the super gross salary)
- but no more than CZK 39,000 per one employee/month

Antivirus Program – regime B

concerns the previously proposed regimes C, D and E, i.e.
1. absence of significant number of employees
2. “dead” time (fall of availability of inputs)
3. partial unemployment (decrease in demand for employer’s good/services)
the employer shall receive 60% of employees’ average earnings including the health and social security insurance contributions (from the super gross salary)
- but no more than CZK 29,000 per one employee/month

Program Antivirus – general conditions

an electronic request (via the electronic application)
full compliance with the Labour Code by the employer
only for non-dismissed employees based on the employment contract
an agreement with the Labour Office
paid after the payment of salary compensation and health and social contributions
the employer shall prove its entitlement in case of control
strict follow-up controls (possibility of refund of contribution)
specific conditions for work agencies

Deferral and pardon of social security contributions (so called Antivirus C regime)

pardon of social security contributions = possibility to decrease the assessment base for social security contributions paid for the employer; basic conditions:
- employer with maximum of 50 employees
- no more than 10% employees dismissed since March 31, 2020
- no more than 10% decrease of wages in comparison to March 2020
- employer duly and timely deducted the contributions for its employees
- no concurrence with Antivirus A and/or B regime
compliance with the above conditions is assessed separately for each month
deferral of social security contributions = possibility to pay the social security contributions for the period between May and July 2020 until October 20, 2020
- in case the employer decides to use the deferral → penalty from the outstanding amount is decreased by 80% (the rate is 4% p.a., i.e. 1% per quarter)
- does not concern social security contributions for employees

Carer’s allowance

allowance shall be provided during the period of closure of schools and other children’s facilities, but also some social services for the disabled
following persons are entitled
- parents of children under 13 years
- persons caring for older handicapped children attending school
- persons who, due to the closure of some social services facilities (day care centers, etc.), take care of the elderly handicapped who live with them in their common household
two carers can now take care of the children/handicapped more than once and without limits
will be paid retroactively at the date of the emergency measures
increased to 80% of the reduced daily assessment base starting from April 1
nursing for self-employed
- during the period the schools are closed
- applications are accepted from April 1 to April 30
- CZK 424 per day in quarantine / family member care, CZK 500 per day starting from April 1
- application form submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade
- further conditions are specified here

Reliefs for self-employed

pardon of the pension insurance payments
- state shall pay for self-employed persons the advance payments for pension insurance contributions and state employment policy contributions for the calendar months from March to August 2020
pardon of the public health insurance payments
- state shall pay for self-employed persons the advance payments for public health insurance for the calendar months from March to August 2020
nursing for self-employed
- for the period from March 12 to March 31 (may be extended)
- applications are accepted from April 1 to April 30
- CZK 424 per day in quarantine / family member care
- application form submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Trade
- further conditions are specified here
compensation bonus for self-employed
- one-time tax bonus in the amount up to CZK 25,000 (CZK 500 per day)
- further information is here

Compensatory bonus for workers outside of employment contract

employees performing work under other than employment contract, who contribute to the health insurance system, whose performance of work was restrained or impossible due to the coronavirus crisis
CZK 350 per day
for the period from 12 March 2020 to 8 June 2020
the applicant must have worked for at least 4 out of 6 months prior to the crisis (from 1 October 2019 to 31 March 2020)
people with more sources of income than agreement on working activity or performance of work will are ineligible for this bonus
will be distributed by tax offices on the basis of an application (a simple form will have to be filled in)

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