Coronavirus infections and government measures issued in recent days under the Crisis Act have severely affected the entire economy, and therefore many employers are now addressing how to deal with employees for whom they have no job, mainly because of the closure of an establishment or due to a decline in orders.
So here is a summary of the obstacles we consider most common and applicable today:
1. Other (general) obstacles to work on the part of the employer (Section 208 of the Labor Code)
If they are so-called primary employers who have been forced to close their operations or make them inaccessible to the public as a result of government crisis measures and who do not have jobs for employees that could be assigned to them outside the employer’s workplace (which requires employee approval) other (so-called general) obstacles to work on the part of the employer – unless the employer agrees with the employee on unpaid leave or taking leave (which can also be ordered in writing but only 14 days in advance).
The situation would be the same for other employers who decide to close their workplace for clearly preventive reasons and do not agree with the employees to work from home/another place or to take unpaid leave or leave.
For these general obstacles to work, employees are entitled to wage compensation of 100% of their average earnings.
ATTENTION: in the event that at the same time there would be a temporary reduction in the sales of the employer’s products/decrease in demand for its services, according to the revised Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, there is partial unemployment associated with wage compensation of at least 60% see below).
Compensation?
Updated 31 March 2020
(i) On 31 March 2020, the government approved wage compensation only for so-called primary employers who are directly affected by government crisis measures and who “leave” their employees on general obstacles to work, claiming 100% of their average earnings – that this group of employers will be compensated by 80% of wage compensation, including social security and health insurance contributions, up to a maximum of CZK 39,000 per employee per month, through the Labor Office of the Czech Republic.
ATTENTION: however, this claim will not be applicable to employees who by the date of their monthly billing of the employer for the purpose of compensation from the “Antivirus” program, will be terminated from their employment relationship pursuant to Section 52 (a – f) of the Labor Code.
(ii) Furthermore, on 31 March 2020, the government also approved compensation for 60% of wage compensation, including social security and health insurance contributions, up to a maximum of CZK 29,000 per employee per month – provided that this compensation applies to employees who have had to face obstacles to working to claim 100% of their average earnings due to the absence of a significant group of other employees – in our opinion, following the previous standpoint of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, a group of at least 30% of employees should be considered (not necessarily within the whole employer, but also within individual premises or organizational parts of the employer).
The quarantine or nursing of children due to the closure of schools/school facilities is likely to be the reason for the absence of entitlement to the above compensation (although there is no explicit definition in the current version of the “Antivirus” program). However, the question is whether this list will not be extended to other reasons, such as temporary incapacity for work.
ATTENTION: again, this claim will not be applicable to employees who will be terminated by the employer for the purposes of compensation from the “Antivirus” program by the date of monthly billing of their employer according to Section 52 (a – f) of the Labor Code.
2. Partial unemployment (Section 209 of the Labor Code)
In the case of an employer affected by a temporary decline in the sales of its products/demand for its services, it may claim so-called partial unemployment, provided that this is agreed with the trade union, or is regulated unilaterally in an internal regulation that there is no trade union with it.
If you decide to claim partial unemployment, we recommend that you deal with the following items in agreement with the trade union/internal regulation:
- the reasons for the declaration (at least a general justification for your particular case);
- the local extent of partial unemployment (whether it applies to your entire company or only a part of it – and thus to which groups of employees it falls);
- the time scale of partial unemployment (whether there is a complete cessation of operations or only partial – and thus, if applicable, on which days or part of shifts, partial unemployment will be claimed);
- the amount of wage compensation provided during partial unemployment (at least 60% of average earnings – provided that if the allowance was subsequently granted at the time of partial unemployment pursuant to Section 115 of the Employment Act, wage compensation would have to be at least 70% of average earnings);
- the period of application of partial unemployment (which may be further extended by agreement with the trade union/unilaterally in the case of an internal regulation).
Compensation?
Updated 31 March 2020
On 31 March 2020, the government approved the introduction of the so-called short-time working, i.e. a contribution in the period of partial unemployment. This should be a compensation of 60% of wage compensation, including social security and health insurance contributions, up to a maximum of CZK 29,000 per month per employee affected by partial unemployment, if this partial unemployment has been declared by the employer due to the spread of coronavirus.
ATTENTION: however, this claim will not be applicable to employees who by the date of their monthly billing of the employer for the purpose of compensation from the “Antivirus” program, will be terminated from their employment relationship pursuant to Section 52 (a – f) of the Labor Code.
3. Downtime (Section 207 (a) of the Labor Code)
In the event of a temporary downtime in the supply of raw materials (other propulsion) on the part of the employer as a result of production/import cessation in a number of other companies, there will be downtime for which employees are entitled to wage compensation of 80% of average earnings.
Compared to partial unemployment, the advantage is that even if you have a trade union, you are not obliged to agree with the trade union on downtime – it is a one-sided step by the employer.
Compensation?
Updated 31 March 2020
On 23 March 2020, the government approved compensation of 60% of wage compensation, including social security and health insurance contributions, but no more than CZK 29,000 per month for employees affected by downtime due to the spread of coronavirus.
ATTENTION: however, this claim will not be applicable to employees who by the date of their monthly billing of the employer for the purpose of compensation from the “Antivirus” program, will be terminated from their employment relationship pursuant to Section 52 (a – f) of the Labor Code.
4. Quarantine
However, in addition to the above situations associated with the employer, it may also be the employee who will not be able to carry out his/her work because he/she has been quarantined,
- the effect of actual coronavirus infection (when placed either at the hospital’s infection department or at home treatment),
or as
- preventive measures (imposed in accordance with the government emergency measure by the general practitioner of the employee or any other physician after returning the employee from the risk country – as enumerated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
In these cases, the employee is entitled to a wage compensation of 60% of the employee’s reduced average earnings, provided by his/her employer for the first 14 days – and subsequently from the 15th day to the state in the form of sickness benefits.
THE EXCEPTION is the case when an employee, with his/her consent, performs his/her current work even during quarantine (if the health of the employee and the nature of his/her work so permit).
Compensation?
Updated 31 March 2020
Therefore, if the employee is in quarantine (and does not perform the job for which he/she was insured), the employer should be entitled to compensation of 80% of wage compensation, including social and health contributions, under a measure approved by the government on 31 March 2020, entitlement to compensation of 80% of wage compensation, including social and health insurance contributions, up to a maximum of CZK 39,000 per employee per month.
Again, however, this claim will not be applicable to employees who, until the date of the monthly bill of the employer for the purpose of compensation from the “Antivirus” program dismissed from employment according to Section 52 (a – f) of the Labor Code.
ATTENTION: although the possibility of applying Section 347 (4) of the Labor Code has been widely discussed among the professional public, according to which isolation and emergency measures in the epidemic (and the risk of its occurrence) under the Public Health Protection Act thesis, we are in agreement with other colleagues (see article Quarantine – Part I by Tereza Landwehrmann) and Doc. Vysokajová from the Faculty of Law of Charles University that it is not applicable to this case, because there has not been a general declaration of quarantine (isolation) under the Public Health Protection Act, but a ban on the free movement of persons and other restrictions resulting from the Crisis Act.
Although we are aware that the goal was to quarantine a large number of employees – reducing their wage compensation to 60% of reduced average earnings and then transfer it to the state, we cannot recommend such a procedure, given the high risk of losing dispute with the employee not only about the supplement to the wage compensation, but also the whole wage compensation for the period from the 15th day of the quarantine period.
5. Caretaking
Another frequent obstacle to work on the part of employees in recent days is the caretaking benefit drawn by a parent/other person caring for a child under 10 years due to the closure of schools/school facilities for 9 days (in the case of single parents up to 16 days) with the exception of employees working on the basis of DPP/DPČ and other groups referred to in Section 39 (5) of the Sickness Insurance Act.
It is therefore an excused time off at work related to a benefit paid by the DSSA in the amount of 60% of the reduced average earnings.
Update as of 31 March 2020
ATTENTION: on 27 March 2020, Act No. 133/2020 Coll. was issued, which, due to the coronavirus pandemic and following government emergency measures, was also granted caretaking to parents/persons caring for a child under the age of 13 that the caretaking allowance was further extended for the entire period of the closure of schools/school facilities, with retroactive effect.
Other
In addition to the above options, there remains the possibility that the employee will work from home, if the nature of the work allows and with the prior consent of the employee, or that an agreement on unpaid leave may be concluded with the employee.
Some employers have also entered into or agreed to take leave – with a 14-day postponement (unless a shorter period has been agreed) during which employees are either assigned work (at the employer’s workplace or home-office for the above conditions) or they are notified of obstacles to work (again see above).
One possibility is a written change of the working hours (unless it is already fixed by the employment contract/collective agreement or other agreement concluded with employees), but again, the employer can lawfully proceed at the earliest 2 weeks after the announcement of this change (if did not arrange a shorter period for acquaintance with individual employees).
As part of the change in working time arrangements, employers who have uneven working time schedules and who can benefit from a compensatory period (up to 26 weeks; in the case of an agreement with a trade union in a collective agreement of up to 52 weeks) will benefit from “unused hours” to the next month.
* * *
If you are unsure about which option to choose in your case, or if you need support in compiling the relevant documentation (whether to introduce partial unemployment, home-office arrangements or change in working hours), we are here for you.
