NOVELIZATON OF THE CZECH LABOUR CODE 2020 - part one
As of 30th July 2020 the novelization of the Czech Labour Code (Act No. 262/2006 Coll.), published in the Collection of Laws on 26th June 2020 under No. 285/2020 Coll., became effective.
The amendment introduces in particular a new legal regulation of the delivery of documents, further specification of the regulation of the transfer of rights and obligations arising from the labour relations and new conditions for the posting of workers to EU Member States in accordance with the European legislations.
New legislation on the delivery of documents
The obligation of the employer to deliver certain documents, especially documents concerning commencement, changes and termination of the employment relationship or an agreement on work performed outside the employment relationship, to the employee in his own hands (i.e. in person) remains in the Labour Code also after 30th July 2020.
The employer is therefore still obliged to deliver important documents to the employee primarily in person into his own hands at the workplace. Only if this is not possible, the employer is newly allowed to deliver the document to the employee in one of the following ways (without determining their order):
- wherever the employee is found in person,
- through a postal service provider,
- via an electronic communicat ions network or service (according to the existing rules pursuant to Section 335 LC), or
- via the data box (newly inserted by the amendment – see below).
It is entirely up to the employer to choose one of the delivery methods mentioned in points (i) to (iv) above.
Further change is the simplification of the delivery of documents from the employer to the employee via the data box (a recognized electronic signature or confirmation of receipt by the employee is no longer required). Only the employee’s written consent to this method of delivery shall be required. Then, if the employee does not log in to the data box within 10 days from the date of the delivery of the document to the data box, the document shall be considered delivered on the last day of this period.
Also the delivery of employer’s documents to the employee through the postal service provider is newly regulated. The employer shall no longer send documents to the last known address of the employee, but to the address notified to him in writing by the employee. Thus, the employee will be responsible for the accuracy and timeliness of the respective data. Furthermore, the length of the storage period of a document that could not be delivered via the postal service provider has been changed from current 10 working days to 15 calendar days, thus the storage period set by the Labour Code is unified with the period set by the Czech Post. In addition, the postal service provider shall not have to make a written record of the instructions given to the employee and concerning the consequences, if he/she refuses to accept the delivered document.
Minor changes also concern the delivery of documents from the employee to his employer, e.g. the fiction of the delivery is newly determined in the event that the employer refuses to accept the document or otherwise fails to do so. Furthermore, if the employer agrees, the employee may deliver the document via employer’s data box.