Czech Republic: Going forward as of 1 January 2014, employers only make substitute wage/salary payments to incapacitated (or quarantined) employees for the first 14 days of their absence.
As at 31 December 2013, a temporary provision of law has expired due to a sunset clause. It stipulated that substitute pay during periods of temporary incapacity must be paid by the employer for the first 21 days of incapacity for work. As of 2014, such substitute pay will again be limited to the first 14 calendar days of incapacity for work, in line with Sec. 192 of the Labor Code.
An employee who has been declared too sick to work or put under quarantine in 2014:
– is entitled to sick-leave pay from the social security district office as early as of the 15th day of their continued incapacity for work (or quarantine);
– during the first 14 days is entitled to payments made by the employer in lieu of wage/salary.
It continues to be the case that the employer only makes substitute wage/salary payments for those days which would actually be working days of the specific employee, and that no substitute pay is being granted for the first three working days (but in any case for no longer than until the first 24 hours of scheduled shifts have passed since the employee fell sick). In the case of ordered quarantine, substitute pay must be granted from the very first working day.
Proper procedure must carefully be observed for cases around the cutoff date between the years 2013 and 2014: if the incapacity for work arose in 2013 and persists into 2014, then the employee is entitled to substitute pay from the employer during the first 21 days of incapacity for work. Sick-leave pay will then only be granted as of the 22nd day of continued incapacity for work. If the employee goes on sick leave only in 2014, then the employer will grant substitute pay only for the first two weeks.