Due to the strict measures taken by the Czech government to fight the COVID-19 virus, you are probably considering a termination of your employment with your employees. What is good to be aware of and what is good to remember if you take this step?
In case an employee has concluded an agreement to perform work or an agreement on work activities it is possible to terminate such an agreement by a notice of dismissal where no reason needs to be given. In that case, a 15 day notice period comes into effect, beginning on the day of having delivered the notice to the employee.
However, these employees do not have to be immediately dismissed, as they are not covered by the Labour Code provisions concerning obstacles to work. Simply, you do not have to provide work for such employees and you can provide them with work to do in accordance with your needs only. As a consequence you do not have to pay their wages during a period when you are not able to provide them with work to do.
In case an employee has signed a regular employment contract (regardless a full-time or part-time job is carried out) it is possible to terminate such a contract only for reasons specified in the Labour Code.
If you decide to terminate your employee's employment contract, you have to bear in mind the essential requirements of the notice of dismissal - the notice shall contain in particular:
The following reasons for termination are most relevant:
The notice of dismissal for the reason of employee's redundancy – what to watch out for?
The notice for the reason of redundancy must be preceded by your decision on organizational changes, which the employee must be informed of at the latest together with the dismissal. Remember, it is especially important to determine a date on which organizational change is to be effective.
If you determine a current date, your employee will be unable to work due to obstacles to work on the employer's part and you will be obliged to provide such employee with 100% wage compensation. Therefore, it is important to consider whether at least temporarily you will find some tasks that such an employee could perform for you until the end of the notice period, eventually whether such an employee is not entitled to lower wage compensation due to obstacles to work (for more details here). Alternatively, the effective date of the organizational change decision may be the day following the date on which the employee's employment ends. It is also appropriate to order your employee to use of the remaining leave during the period of notice.
However, in case of termination of an employment for redundancy, it is necessary to envisage additional costs in the form of severance pay (one to three times the average salary).
While considering which work position is superfluous for your further business, it is also important to remember that the notice of dismissal cannot be given to employee:
If you are forced to terminate a large number of employment contracts due to the occurred situation, your conduct could be considered a collective dismissals, which, however, has its own specifics. You may learn more about it in the following article.
What can be considered a serious breach of an employee's duties?
Although the Czech government has taken very strict measures, all employees are obliged to continue to fulfil their work duties, i.e. to commute to work and to perform assigned work in accordance with agreed type of work unless there are obstacles to work on the employer's part due to taken measures.
If an employee refuses to come to work without excusable reason, for example because of fear of being infected with COVID-19 virus at your workplace, and it takes for a longer period of time, it can be considered a serious violation of employee's duties (unexcused absence) and it can be a reason to give a notice of dismissal.
However, in case of excusable obstacles to work, you are obliged to excuse the absence of your employee (e. g. in time of quarantine or during period when an employee is caring for a child under the age of 10 or another member of the household).
If you terminate an employment relationship with your employee due to a serious breach of employee's duties, you are not obliged to pay him a severance pay. However, you are obliged to provide your employee with work until the notice period expires. If an employee refuses to come to work, you are not obliged to pay him a salary for such a day, or a reduction of 1 to 3 days of leave for each missed shift (working day) is also possible.
Fulfilment of the serious breach of employee's duties shall always be examined in each individual case taking into account other circumstances related to absence, such as the employee's past performance of his duties, with reflection of the time and situation when unexcused absence occurred, the degree of employee's fault, the consequences of the absence for you, e. g. whether it caused damages, etc. In case you would need some advice, we are ready to help you.