In connection with the coronavirus epidemic, which is now also affecting the Czech Republic, many employers have to decide what rights and what obligations they have towards their employees in certain situations. Below we bring you a basic overview of some situations and the rights and obligations associated with them:

An order to take vacation as a prevention of contagion?

The employer is obliged to notify the employee in writing at least 14 days in advance of the specified period of vacation taking, but it is possible to agree on a shorter period with the employee. Therefore, if the employee does not agree with the employer, the ordering of leave by the employer as part of prevention will probably not be effective.

Home office

Working from home can be suitable as prevention, but also for employees who have been ordered to quarantine. The employee and the employer must agree on a home office. The home office must also be feasible from a technical point of view for specific work (you cannot order a home office saleswoman, etc.). It will be appropriate to conclude a specific agreement on working from home, which specifically defines the home office. Working from home is also currently recommended by the government.

Nursing home

Caring for a child under the age of 10 (if the child has fallen ill, suffered an injury or if the school the child attends is closed due to emergency measures during an epidemic) is an obstacle to work. If the employee uses this option, he is entitled to a sickness insurance benefit (60% of the assessment base). The support period for nursing care is a maximum of 9 calendar days. For a single employee who has at least one child under the age of 16 who has not completed compulsory schooling, the support period is a maximum of 16 calendar days.

Closure of traffic

In the event of closure, the employer pays 100% of the employee's average earnings.

Quarantine or incapacity for work

If the employee has been ordered to quarantine, the employee is entitled to compensation of wages or salary in the amount of 60% of the average earnings for a period of 14 calendar days. From the 15th day of quarantine, the employee is entitled to benefits from the sickness insurance system (if he meets the conditions). The same applies to the case of an employee's incapacity for work, which may be caused by the coronavirus.

Partial unemployment

This case concerns employers who have not been prohibited from performing their activities, if the sales of products or the demand for the services provided by them has temporarily decreased, if as a result of the decrease in the sales of products or the demand for services, employees cannot be assigned work in the range of weekly working hours. In these cases, based on an agreement with the trade union, the employer can reduce the amount of compensation for employees, but it must be at least 60% of the average earnings.

Downtime

If an employee is unable to work due to a temporary fault caused by a fault in machinery for which he was not responsible, in the supply of raw materials or motive power, faulty work documents or other operational reasons and if the employee has not been transferred to another job, it is downtime. In the event of downtime, the employee is entitled to compensation in the amount of 80% of average earnings. However, as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, there is no malfunction of the machinery or the delivery of faulty work documents.

However, we believe that downtime due to the spread of the coronavirus could occur if there are defects in the supply of raw materials or driving forces, or due to other operational reasons.

"Antivirus" program

To a certain extent, the state will help employers with some of the compensation that employers have to pay. According to the "Antivirus" employment protection program, in the case of an ordered quarantine of an employee, the state should provide the employer with 80% of the salary compensation of the employee in question, but a maximum of CZK 39,000 per month per employee. It will be necessary to apply for these refunds and meet the specified conditions.

If the employee could not work due to obstacles on the part of the employer due to economic problems related to the spread of the coronavirus, and the employer can receive 60% of the paid salary under this program, but a maximum of CZK 29,000 per employee per month.

You can apply for a contribution from the Antivirus program from 6 April 2020. Entitlements are subject to the fulfillment of other conditions (the employee must not be on notice, contributions must relate to employees with pension and health insurance, the employer must pay wages and pay contributions and comply with the Labor Code).