Effective as of 1 January 2012, a far-reaching amendment will substantially modify the Labor Code. Among other things, the amendment redefines the terms under which so-called agreements on the performance of specific work assignments are made. Concomitant modifications will be made in the relevant laws concerning sick-leave insurance, health insurance, and social insurance. All this will change the playing field for the work assignment agreement, come 1 January 2012.
Above all, the permissible maximum amount of hours of performance under a work assignment agreement is being ramped up substantially, from currently 150 hours per calendar year for one employer to 300 hours. Previously, the Labor Code had stipulated no mandatory content for work assignment agreements. Under the new arrangement, work assignment agreements must specify the term for which they were concluded, and must be made in writing.
Upon termination of a work assignment agreement, employers will newly have to issue a certificate of employment. The reasons for termination shall be specified only upon the employee’s request, and then only in a separate confirmation letter.
The amendment expands the circle of those provisions of the Labor Code which do not apply to “employees” who perform work for the employer outside of an employment contract (i.e., who perform work on the basis either of a work assignment agreement or on the basis of a so-called agreement on minor employment – dohoda o pracovní činnosti). Consequently, the Labor Code`s provisions regarding the following areas newly do not apply to work performances under a work assignment agreement: assignment of work outside the job description or relocation to another work place; temporary secondment; payout of severance pay; working hours and hours of rest; work obstacles on the part of the employee; vacation; termination of employment; remuneration (with the exception of minimum wage provisions); and compensation of travel expenses.
In all other matters, though, the performance of work under a work assignment agreement is governed by the relevant provisions of the Labor Code for the performance of work under an employment contract.
Maximum 12 hours in a 24 shift
The Labor Code newly includes an express provision according to which no more than 12 hours of work may be performed within 24 consecutive hours on the basis of a work assignment agreement. Further, the Labor Code amendment also modifies the Sick-Leave Insurance Act and the pertinent laws regarding health and social insurance, such that the remuneration paid under work assignment agreements may under certain circumstances be curtailed by withholding contributions to health and social insurance.
Specifically, such contributions will have to be paid if the aggregate remuneration from one or several work assignment agreements with the same employer exceeds a gross amount of CZK 10,000 per month. In such a case, the remuneration is subject to health and social insurance contributions – but only in those months in which the allowable income exceeds CZK 10,000. However, employees who work under such an agreement shall remain participants in the social insurance system throughout the existence of the work assignment agreement, as of the day on which they first render the agreed performances after having executed the work assignment agreement, until the day on which the agreed term of employment expires. In the event of temporary incapacity for work, such employees are entitled to statutory employer-paid sick pay (and, upon lapse of such payments, to sick-leave insurance payouts by the social security authorities).
In the case of work assignment agreements which were made prior to 1 January 2012 but continue to exist after that date, the legal fiction is that 1 January 2012 is the first day on which the employee reported for work and on which participation in the insurance system came into existence (always assuming, of course, that the allowable income is higher than CZK 10,000).
Originally published by the bnt newletter bnt – pravda & partner, s.r.o.; author: Markéta Pravdová, Attorney-at-Law, Partner.
