The so-called flexibility amendment is set to come into force this summer. It is expected to improve employers’ competitiveness and at the same time employees’ work-life balance.
A much-anticipated amendment to the Labor Code which has become known as the flexibility amendment is expected to come into force in the course of this summer, with 1 June 2025 being rumored to be the most likely date of promulgation.
This amendment delivers a number of changes aimed at improving the competitiveness of employers and at facilitating a better work-life balance. According to the drafters of the bill, the goal is to bring about a modern, flexible job market inspired by the time-tested models of Germany, Austria, and Denmark. If you are currently in the process of drafting new templates or reviewing existing templates of the employment agreements at your company, you may welcome the following overview of concepts introduced by the new legislation that deserve your attention.
A rather far-reaching change concerns the length (and the commencement) of the notice period in case of termination. In the future, the notice period is supposed to run as of the day on which the notice is served to the other party. The expectation is that this change will allow employees to enter employment at a new job more quickly; correspondingly, employers will be able to fill their vacant positions sooner. If you want to expedite future terminations at your company, it will suffice to make a reference to the law concerning the length and start of the notice period. If there is a substantial difference between the length and commencement of the notice period as per the provisions in your current template agreements and those anticipated by the flexibility amendment, we recommend omitting them from your contracts and instead making reference to the provisions of statutory law (i.e., the Labor Code).
In a similar vein, you may want to reconsider the use of confidentiality clauses related to the amount of employees’ compensation. Practice has shown that such clauses are difficult to enforce, and may moreover result in rather stiff penalties further down the road. For this reason, it is advisable to entirely do away with pay secrecy clauses in employment agreements.
The flexibility amendment also brings changes in the realm of probation periods. Such a period may newly be agreed for up to four months in the case of regular (rank-and-file) employees and up to eight months in the case of workers in a leading role (executive employees). This, too, is best taken into account even now, as you review and update your existing templates.
Yet another change concerns the duo of contract types for work performance outside full-fledged employment under Czech law: the agreement on work activities (DPČ) and the agreement to complete an assignment (DPP). In the future, employees on parental leave may fulfil the same role at their employer as previously under a DPČ/DPP arrangement, i.e., it will become possible to enter into such agreements for the same type of work as the employee has been performing in their main employment.
We should certainly also mention that under the new rules, employees who return from parental leave before their child turns two must be guaranteed their old job at the same workplace. This represents a strengthening of employees’ rights compared to the current rules, under which this guarantee only applies specifically to female employees returning from maternity leave.
Further, the flexibility amendment wants to make it legal for minors aged 14 or older to carry out light work during the summer holidays, even if they are still subject to compulsory school attendance.
Given the breadth of topics to be governed by the upcoming flexibility amendment, we advise you to review your employment agreements ahead of time and remove from them any superfluous or potentially contentious provisions, always with a view to serve your company’s requirements and needs as best as possible.
Source:
Parliamentary Press No. 775
Labor Code (Act No. 262/2006 Coll.)