The term ‘illegal employment’ or ‘other illegal gainful work’ refers to:
- employment of a person by an employer without confirming the type and conditions of the contract in writing within applicable deadline,
- non-registration of a person employed or performing other gainful work with the social insurance,
- commencement of employment, other gainful work or activity by an unemployed person without notifying the competent county labour office.
#1.
An employment contract should be concluded in writing. Before commencement of work, the employee should receive the employment contract from the employer.
The employment contract should specify the parties to the agreement (the employer and the employee), the employer’s seat address, and – if the employer is a natural person without registered seat – his/her residence address, as well as the type of contract (e.g. for an indefinite period), date of conclusion, terms of employment and remuneration, in particular:
1) type of work;
2) workplace or workplaces;
3) salary corresponding to the type of work with the indication of salary components;
4) working time;
5) date of commencement of work;
6) in the case of a contract of employment for a trial period:
- a) duration of the contract or the date of its termination and, if the parties so agree, extension of the contract for the duration of leave or other justified employee’s absences, should such absences occur,
- b) the period for which the parties intend to conclude a fixed-term employment contract (for a period shorter than 6 months or a period of at least 6 months but shorter than 12 months) as well as provision on the extension of the contract (the parties may extend the duration of an employment contract for a trial period of 1 or 2 months by 1 month maximum, if that is justified by the type of work),
7) in the case of a fixed-term employment contract – its duration or end date.
Employment contract may be concluded for: a trial period, a definite period (fixed-term contract) or an indefinite period (open-ended contract).
Employment contract for a trial period may be concluded for a maximum 3-month period, but:
- it may not exceed one month if the employer intends to employ the employee on the basis of a fixed-term employment contract for a period shorter than 6 months
- it may not exceed 2 months if the employer intends to employ the employee for the period longer than 6 but shorter than 12 months.
Employment contract for a trial period of 1 or 2 months may be extended, as long as this is justified by the type of work carried out by the employee. Such an extension may take place only once, for a maximum period of 1 month in relation to the initial period of the contract.
Conclusion of another employment contract for a trial period with the same employee is allowed only if the employee is to perform a different type of work.
Fixed-term employment contract – restrictions in concluding fixed-term employment contracts
The period of employment on the basis of a fixed-term employment contract, as well as the total duration of employment on the basis of fixed-term employment contracts concluded between the same parties to the employment relationship must not exceed 33 months, and the total number of such contracts must not exceed three.
Agreement of the parties on the extension of the period of performance of work under a fixed-term employment contract (e.g. through an annex) shall be considered as conclusion of a new fixed-term employment contract as of the day following the day when the contract initially expired.
Moreover, if the period of employment under a fixed-term employment contract exceeds 33 months or the number of concluded contracts exceeds 3, it shall be considered that the employee is employed based on an employment contract for an indefinite period as of the day following the expiration of the 33-month period of employment or the day following the date of conclusion of the fourth fixed-term employment contract.
However, the restriction of 33 months / 3 contracts does not apply to fixed-term employment contracts concluded in order to:
1) replace another employee during their justified absence at work,
2) perform occasional or seasonal works,
3) perform work for a term of office,
4) in the case where the employer indicates objective reasons on their part.
- as long as conclusion of such contracts in a given case serves the actual purpose of satisfying periodic demand and is indispensable in this respect under all circumstances of the conclusion of the contract. In such case, the purpose of conclusion of the contract or its objective reasons on the part of the employer should be indicated in the contract.
In the case of conclusion of a contract for the reasons specified in point 4 above, the employer has a duty to notify the competent district labour inspector, in writing or electronically, about conclusion of such a contract and its reasons, within 5 working days after its conclusion – failure to comply with this duty constitutes an offence.
Employment contract for an indefinite period is an open-ended contract, binding until its termination or expiration.
Failure to confirm the contract concluded with the employee in writing prior to admitting the employee to work constitutes an offence.
# 2.
An employer has a duty to register the employee with social insurance within 7 days from the date of his/her engagement.
# 3.
Persons registered in the county labour office as unemployed should remember about the duty to notify the respective labour office within 7 days of taking up the employment, other gainful work or submitting a request for registration with the Central Registration and Information on Business and of the occurrence of other circumstances resulting in the loss of the unemployed status or the loss of the entitlement to unemployment benefits.
An unemployed person who has taken up employment, other gainful work or business activity without notifying the competent county labour office is subject to a fine. However, if this duty has already been fulfilled before the day of commencement of the inspection of the inspected entity, the perpetrator shall not be punished.