Starting in October, an amendment to the Czech Labor Code has brought about significant changes to the rules governing home office arrangements and working hours. This amendment grants individuals with children under the age of nine, or those caring for close family members, the right to request their employers to allow them to work from home, have a shorter work schedule, or arrange alternative working hours. Employers must provide a written explanation if they decide to reject such requests.

However, it’s important to note that while the amendment still favors individuals caring for young children or disabled relatives, they are not legally entitled to work from home as initially proposed.

The new Labor Code also includes provisions prohibiting employers from requiring pregnant women or parents of children under one year old to work overtime. If an employee who does not fall into any of the mentioned categories requests remote work, the employer can reject the request without providing a reason.

The scope of remote work, as defined in the amendment, extends beyond working from one’s residence and encompasses all cases where an employee and an employer agree to perform work outside the employer’s premises, such as from a cottage or cabin.

Eduarda Hekšová, the director of the consumer organization dTest, highlighted that the amendment does not provide specific guidelines on how to justify rejecting a home office request. This lack of clarity could potentially lead to disputes over the rejection of the right to remote work for specific groups of employees, opening opportunities for collective bargaining and establishing detailed remote work rules in an employer’s internal regulations.

Under the new regulation, individuals working remotely should receive compensation of 4.60 Czech korunas per hour for incurred costs. Employers should also contribute to the employee’s electricity, heating, or water expenses for each hour of remote work if agreed upon in writing or specified in the company’s regulations. Tax consultant Gabriela Ivanco noted that this lump sum compensation will not be subject to income tax for individuals and will be considered tax-deductible for employers.

The amendment also regulates conditions for contract employment, including advance work schedule planning, entitlement to annual leave, extra pay for holidays and weekends, sickness benefits, and the possibility of requesting a regular employment contract after six months of work for contractors.

To work from home, a written agreement between employers and employees is now required, and for legal certainty, it is recommended to define the basic conditions for remote work in this agreement. Termination of a work-from-home agreement can be done through mutual written agreement or by either party with a fifteen-day notice period or other agreed-upon terms.

Article by Prague Forum