Getting Fired and Quitting in the Czech Republic

Quitting
There are two ways to quit according to Czech Law. First, you obtain a ‘termination by agreement’ (výpověď dohodou). This written agreement made by you and your employer states explicitly the day your employment finishes. If you are quitting it does not need to include the reason why. Remember, it must be in writing or the termination is not valid. See section 49 of the Czech Labor Code. Available here in English; it’s available here in Czech if you want to compare. The notice should be clearly understood by your employer, according to section 37, paragraph 1 of the Czech Civil Code. Therefore, if your employer speaks English, there is no reason why it can´t be submitted in English.

If the employer does not consent to a ‘termination by agreement,´ i.e. he/she doesn´t agree with the day you wish to leave, then your termination period will be two months from the first day of the month following the submission of notice. Or more simply, if you hand in your notice on the 15th April, the two months start from the 1st May, just as it would if you had submitted your notice on the 1st April or 30th April. Your notice has to be in writing or it is void. You do not have to state your reasons. If you do, then they can be for whatever reason you say. If you were to leave the job before the end of these two months, it would be a breach of your contract.

There are two instances when you can resign automatically without your employer’s consent. The first is if you submit a medical certificate to show that you cannot continue in your present position for health reasons and your employer has not found you a suitable alternative position within 15 days. Or, if your employer fails to pay your wages, salary or part thereof within 15 days from the ‘maturity’ day, i.e. day of payment, which should be stated in your contract. In the case of failure to pay, an employee is entitled to severance pay up to three times his/her average monthly salary.

Otherwise an employer must give you two months notice starting on the first day of the month after the notice is served. In other words, it’s the same period as when an employee gives notice. As with employer-initiated ‘termination by agreement’, the notice must contain a reason and this reason cannot be confused with another. These reasons are listed in section 52 of the Labor Code. The following is a brief summary of the reasons why your employer can terminate your working relationship:
a) the employer’s business, or part of it, closes down
b) the employer’s business relocates
c) the employee is made redundant because of changes to tasks, equipment, downsizing or restructuring
d) for certified medical reasons such as industrial disease or injury, or the risk thereof
e) based on medical examination, the employee has lost his or her long-term ability to perform his job
f) breaches of duty that would not be classified as ‘serious’

The notice period does not include so-called protection periods, for example maternity leave or sick leave. See section 53 for the full list of reasons why an employee is protected. During this time, an employer cannot dismiss you. However, if you are dismissed from your position before the protection period, the termination period recommences after you return to work. So if you are fired, and after the first month of the two month termination period passes, you fall ill and have time off work, you can return to work for another month after your sick leave to complete the termination period unless you request otherwise. In other words, you would be submitting a ‘termination by agreement. It’s conceivable that you could submit such a request during an ordinary two-month termination period too.

If you don’t have any written agreement, your work relationship can be terminated at any time. If you do have a contract it will be one of two kinds: either an agreement on work performance (dohoda o provedení práce) or an agreement on work activity (dohoda o pracovní činnosti) covered in section 75 and 76 of the Labor Code, respectively. Neither of these agreements affords the same protection as a work contract, which is only possible for employees. Both of these agreements can be terminated with 15 days notice for whatever reason. This provision is simply stated as ‘unilateral’ in the law, so if you work under a business license you also only have to give the company/individual you’re contracted to 15 days notice.

Note for people with long term visas and work permits
We contacted the Ministry of the Interior, the ministry responsible for the Foreigners’ Police, to find out what happens if you have a long-term visa based on a work permit and you lose your job. A spokesperson for the ministry said, “If a foreigner [with a work permit] loses his/her employment, he or she has a limited amount of time, around 30 days, to find new work. If he or she doesn’t find new employment, the Labor Office will inform the Foreigners’ Police and the Foreigners’ Police will terminate the person’s stay and set the time for them to leave the territory of the Czech Republic.”