An Overview of the Main Statutory Benefits
Maternity leave: Women are entitled to take up to 28 weeks for a single birth and 37 weeks for multiple births.
Women can take up to eight weeks before the delivery date but must not commence their maternity leave any later than six weeks before delivery. Women must take at least 14 weeks of maternity leave.
While on maternity leave, women are usually paid 70% of their usual wages but this can change slightly depending on how much they’ve contributed to their social security.
Paternity leave: Men are entitled to seven days of paternity leave, paid at a rate of 70% of their usual salary.
Employees pay 6.5% of their gross salary each month towards the public pension system. The employer is required to pay 21.5% of the employee’s gross salary towards pension contributions.
In order to receive the state pension, an employee must have been insured for a minimum period of 35 years (if employed after 2018).
There are voluntary private pension schemes if employees wish to make additional contributions.
All employees are entitled to up to 14 days of sick leave at 60% of their usual pay, as long as they can provide evidence of illness.
Contractual Provisions
Czech Republic law has recognised an electronic signature as legally binding since the year 2000.
A full-time job is considered eight hours a day/40 hours a week.
A probationary period in the Czech Republic cannot be longer than three months for regular employees and no longer than six months for chief officers. The probationary period cannot be longer than 50% of the employment contract.
- Employees are entitled to a 30-minute lunch break and a rest break when they have worked for six consecutive hours.
- A daily rest of at least 11 hours between one shift to the next is required by law.
- A weekly rest of at least 35 consecutive hours is required by law.
Employees aren’t allowed to work more than eight overtime hours per week, and they cannot work eight overtime hours per week for longer than 26 weeks in a row. The maximum overtime hours permitted to be worked per year are 150.
Overtime pay is 125% of the usual wage rate of the employee. Employers may give the employee extra time off instead of money in exchange for the overtime work.
If the overtime falls on a holiday, then the employee is due time off as well as wages. When overtime is required to be worked on the weekend, the employee should be paid at a rate of 110% of their usual wages.
Personal leave
The government set out a list of events in which an employee can take time off for personal reasons. These situations include the birth of a child, funerals, medical examinations and performance of work in public office.