Employment

Contens:

Loss of employment

Visiting the labour office for the first time

People who only want to obtain information on employment opportunities and job vacancies or advice on employment-related matters, can visit any labour office they wish. It is precisely for the above purposes that labour offices keep records of job vacancies.

An application for placement in a new job shall be submitted to the labour office according to your permanent residence. An unemployed job seeker should take her/his identity card and "employment card" from her/his previous employer. After being registered as a job seeker s/he shall visit her/his health insurance company with confirmation from the labour office as the state will pay her/his health insurance for the period s/he is registered as unemployed.

Unemployment support

A job seeker can apply for unemployment support. S/he must meet the basic condition, i.e. over the previous three years s/he must for at least twelve months has been employed or performed other gainful activity constituting the basic obligation to pay insurance for old age pension and contribution to the state employment policy. Support cannot be provided to beneficiaries of old age pension.

For the first three months the amount of the support is 50 % of the previous income, falling to 45 % for the next three months. If the job seeker retrains the amount of the support will be 60 % of the previous income throughout the period of retraining.

People from 50 to 55 can draw unemployment support for 9 months, while for people over 55 the support period has been extended to 12 months.

The maximum amount of unemployment support is 2.5 times the minimum subsistence amount valid for one person over the age of 26 as of the application date for unemployment support. The maximum amount of unemployment support during retraining is 2.8 times the minimum subsistence amount valid for one person over the age of 26 as of the date he begins re-training.

Partial employment

People have the right to extra earnings even if they draw unemployment support, although these may not exceed half the minimum wage and take up more than 20 hours a week. The extra earnings are a way in which people retain working habits and don't lose the incentive to work. The legalisation of extra earnings reduces illegal work, and thereby has a positive effect on tax revenue, insurance and occupational safety.

Co-operating with the labour office

The job seeker must cooperate with the labour office, which means for example to make regular visits to the labour office, to visit employers that the labour office recommends her/him etc.; otherwise s/he may be excluded from the register of job seekers.

Obligation to undergo a medical examination

Labour offices may request an assessment to be made by a designated health institution of the health of natural persons for employment purposes. A job seeker must undergo this examination. The labour office can at its own expense examine the state of health of a job seeker who, for example, requests vocational rehabilitation or who gives various health reasons preventing her/him from taking up a particular job.

Looking for work

Job offers

Suitable employment

Employment offered by the labour office must meet the following conditions: employment must entails the obligation of paying old age pension insurance and contributions to the state employment policy; the working hours must be at least 80 % of the stipulated weekly working hours, and the employment must be agreed for an indefinite period, or for a fixed term exceeding three months, and correspond to the job seeker's state of health (confirmed by the relevant medical assessment opinions). Other aspects, e.g. qualifications, length of previous employment etc. are taken into consideration, but are not considered to be essential. Only employment of this sort is considered "suitable". In practice this means that if a labour office cannot offer a job seeker a job according to her/his qualifications, it may offer her/him another job, which does not meet that qualification. If the job seeker is registered with the labour office for more than one year, the job offered by the labour office doesn´t have to fulfil all the above mentioned requirements.

Short-term employment

A labour office may also arrange employment for a job seeker even if the employment is not suitable but is for a period no longer than three months and corresponds to the job seeker's state of health. The job seeker may draw unemployment support in addition to the earnings from such employment.

Increased care for job seekers

Labour offices devote increased care to job seekers who require this due to their state of health, age, parental duties or other serious reasons. These include:

  • persons with disabilities
  • persons under the age of 25
  • university graduates for a period of two years following their successful graduation, although not later than 30 years of age
  • pregnant women, breastfeeding women and mothers up to nine months following birth
  • people caring for a child under 15
  • people who have been registered as job seekers for more than 6 months
  • people over the age of 50, and others

Individual action plan

In co-operation with the job seeker, a labour office can develop an individual action plan. This is designed to increase the employment chances of job seekers receiving increased care from labour offices. The labour office is obliged to offer job seekers below the age of 25 and university graduates the opportunity to develop this plan. An individual action plan includes the description of a process and schedule for the fulfilment of individual measures designed to improve the job seeker's chances in the labour market. The plan is based on the job seeker's qualifications, capabilities and skills. The job seeker is obliged to assist the labour office in developing the individual action plan and to fulfil the obligations stipulated therein.

Employment agencies

Employment agencies are engaged in the direct placement into jobs, serve as advisory and information centres and "lend" their employees to other employers. The new Employment Act should ensure that a person who is an employee of an employment agency and works for another firm has the same employment conditions as other employees of the relevant firm (working hours, wage etc.).

Active labour market policies

Active labour market policies (ALMPs) is a set of measures designed to ensure the maximum possible employment level. ALMPs measures are enforced by the Ministry and by the Labour office Czech Republic (CR), which co-operate with other institutions to achieve the desired outcome, with due consideration of the situation on the labour market.

Retraining

The Labour office CR can offer retraining if this is essential for the job seeker's future employment. The content and scope of the retraining depend upon the qualifications, health, abilities and experience of the natural person that is to be retrained in the form of new theoretical knowledge and practical skills as part of the job seeker's further professional education. The Labour office CR pays the retraining costs on the job seeker's behalf and can give her/him a contribution towards necessary retraining-related costs. By agreement with the Labour office CR, retraining may also be performed at the employer's premises with a view to her/ his employees further employment. Employers may receive full or partial compensation for retraining-related costs.

Chosen retraining

Applicants for employment or job seekers can secure himself and retraining in order to choose the type of work to which he wants to retrain and retraining device to perform retraining.

Investment incentives

Investment incentives are an instrument ALMPs by which an employer who has been promised an investment incentive materially supports the creation of new jobs and the retraining or training of new employees. Material support for the creation of new jobs can be provided to an employer who will create new jobs in the area in which the average level of unemployment over the two previous half-years is at least the average level of unemployment in the Czech Republic.

Community service

Community service means work opportunities such as public spaces cleaning and maintenance of public buildings and roads or similar activities for a municipality or for state or other civic institutions. The employer creates the public works programme for at most 12 consecutive calendar months, on a renewable basis, in order to employ job seekers. Jobs are created on the basis of an agreement with the Labour office CR, which may provide the employer with a contribution in return.

Socially beneficial jobs

An employer establishes or reserves socially beneficial jobs on the basis of an agreement with the Labour office CR and fills them with job seekers who cannot find work by other means. A socially beneficial job is also a job that the job seeker has established upon agreement with the Labour office CR for the purpose of performing a self-employed activity. The Labour office CR can make a contribution to socially beneficial jobs.

Bridging contribution

The Labour office CR may provide a contribution to a person who is self-employed and who has ceased to be a job seeker and who has received a contribution for the creation of a socially beneficial job. A bridging contribution is provided for at most five months in a monthly amount equal to 0.25 x average wage in the national economy. The contribution may be applied for at the Labour office CR no later than 30 calendar days after the conclusion of the agreement on the creation of a socially beneficial job.

Contribution to the introduction of worker

The Labour office CR can provide an employer with a contribution if the employer recruits a job-seeker to whom the Labour office CR has devoted special care. The contribution can be provided for up to three months. The monthly contribution per employee may not exceed one half of the minimum wage.

Contribution upon a switch to a new business programme

The Labour office CR can provide an employer with a contribution if s/he switches to a new business programme and as a result thereof cannot guarantee work for its employees in the scope of the stipulated weekly working hours. The contribution can be provided for a maximum of 6 months by way of partial compensation of the wage payable to employees under labour-law regulations. The monthly contribution per employee may amount to a maximum of one half of the minimum wage.

Labour office control activity

Labour offices control

compliance with employment regulations at employers, legal entities and natural persons who perform activities under this Act, in particular with regard to job placement and retraining, and natural persons who are provided services under the Employment Act.

The Ministry controls

performance of agreements on the provision of material support to create new jobs and material support for retraining or training as part of investment incentives, implementation of target programmes with national reach.

Control authority employees

Control authority employees identify themselves by means of a service card. They are authorised to access the workplaces of controlled persons, request from them and their employees the submission of the necessary documents, comprehensive reports, information and explanations within the relevant time-limits; they are further authorised to require the attendance of controlled persons at meetings to discuss the control results as well as other assistance necessary to create the conditions for the uninterrupted and swift implementation of the control.

Controlled persons are obliged to facilitate the implementation of the control and to provide control authority employees with the necessary assistance.

Penalties for undeclared work

Illegal work is performed

by anyone who works for a legal entity or natural person without an employment relationship or other similar contract and is not a spouse or child of the natural person for whom s/he works, or a member or partner of the juridical person entity. Foreigners further need a valid work permit, if this is required under the Employment Act.

Definition of offences and penalty levels

These are stated in Section 139 of the Employment Act. For example:

If a citizen of the Czech Republic or a foreigner performs illegal work, s/he shall face a penalty of up to CZK 10 000.

If an employer provides a citizen of the Czech Republic or a foreigner with illegal work, s/he shall face a penalty of up to CZK 2 000 000.

Change in the method of unemployment measurement

General unemployment rate

The general level of unemployment is based on labour forces sample inquiries and can be used for international comparisons. The general level of unemployment is regularly published by the Czech Statistical Office. EU member states use the same methodology to measure unemployment rate.

The registered unemployment rate

The methodology of the registered unemployment introduced on 1 January 1997 was based on the exact number of job seekers who are on the records of the district labour office of their residence, and on the number of persons employed in the national economy with a single or main employment relationship.

Since 1 July 2004 up to the end of 2012, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has recorded the level of registered unemployment based on available job seekers as the ratio of available unemployed job applicants in the labour force.

These are people who are immediately available for work. Available job seekers comprise persons who:

  • are not in custody,
  • are not in prison
  • are not performing basic, substitute or civilian service
  • are not in receipt of cash maternity benefit
  • are not in receipt of material security during maternity leave
  • are not ineligible for work due to disability
  • are not included in retraining courses
  • are not performing short-term employment

The thus defined job seekers better match the definition of the unemployed used to measure the general level of unemployment according to the methodology of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Registered unemployment rate - new methodology

In line with its new methodology since 1 January 2013, the Ministry of Labour and Social has replaced registered unemployment rate with a new indicator named the share of unemployed persons. It is the ratio of available job seekers aged 15 to 64 years in the population of the same age.

New Employment Act

Unemployed graduates

In order for them to be eligible for employment benefit they have to fulfil the basic condition like everybody else - in the previous three years to have performed at least 12 months of employment or other gainful activity constituting the obligation to pay social security premiums and contribution to the state employment policy. The period of 6 months at the most of systematic preparation for future employment (in general - the period of daily study) shall be included in the period of employment.

Health assessment

A labour office may request a designated health institution to make a medical examination for employment purposes. A job seeker must undergo this examination.

Stricter conditions for excluding a person from the records

The job seeker will be excluded from the job seekers´ register if, for example, works illegally or if s/he without good reason refuses to take up suitable employment, refuses to undergo a medical examination, fails to cooperate with the labour office or fails to fulfil the conditions stipulated in her/his individual action plan.

Regulation of partial unemployment

People who draw unemployment support have the right to extra earnings, although these may not exceed half the minimum wage and may not take up more than 20 hours a week.

Employment agencies

A person who is employed by an agency and works for another company must be guaranteed the same conditions as the other employees of the relevant company (working hours, wage etc.).

Child labour protection

  • children below the age of 15 are not allowed to work
  • only artistic, cultural, advertising and sporting activities are allowed
  • the relevant labour office grants permission for such activity
  • permission is not required only in the event of a hobby activity for children in schools, social welfare institutions or educational facilities upon the condition that the child does not receive any financial remuneration for the performance.

Contacts

Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Na Poříčním právu 1, 128 01 Prague 2
Tel.: 221 921 111
MPSV Information Office:
+420 221 922 462 www.mpsv.cz, MoLSA journal
e-mail: posta@mpsv.cz

Employment Services Administration
www.uradprace.cz, e-mail: ssz@mpsv.cz

Labour Market Department
Tel.: +420 221 923 770

Consultancy and Mediation Department
Tel.: +420 221 923 510

Employment Services Financing Department
Tel.: +420 221 923 749

Methodology and Administrative Proceedings Department
Tel.: +420 221 923 770

Labour offices (according to address of permanent residence)
www.uradprace.cz

Job Vacancies
sprace.seznam.cz

Poslední aktualizace: 6. 8. 2019