Obstacles to work on the part of the employee and the employer

Obstacles to work on the part of the employee

It happens commonly in life that an employee cannot fulfil his/her labour obligations, or it would be unfair to require the employee to fulfil them, whether due to various life events that are usually planned (such as a wedding or maternity leave) or due to unexpected events (such as illness, funeral, summons to appear in court). The obligation to perform work is thus postponed until after the obstacle ceases to exist. In these cases, the employer is obliged to excuse the absence from work or, as the case may be, provide time off work or even compensation for wage or salary. However, the employee is always obliged to ask the employer to grant time off work if the employee knows about the obstacle in advance or to notify the employer of its existence without delay.

The Labour Code lists the various obstacles and classifies them as follows:

• important personal obstacles to work (see below)
• other important personal obstacles to work (see below)
• obstacles to work for reasons of public interest (e.g. performance of a public function, conscription)
• obstacles to work due to upskilling (e.g. gaining or extending qualifications through study, training, etc.)

Important personal obstacles to work

Important personal obstacles to work are listed in the Labour Code in the provisions of Section 191 et seq. But this is a non-exhaustive list of obstacles and others can be found in the implementing regulation and case law. A common feature of these life situations is that the employer is obliged to excuse the employee’s absence for their duration. In practice, this means, among other things, that the employer may not sanction the employee for such absence. Of course, the employee does not always ask for them in advance (for example, illness and subsequent incapacity for work can usually be notified ex post), but the employee must always prove their existence. Financial compensation for these obstacles is partly provided by the employer, but more often by the sickness insurance scheme or state social support scheme.

Important personal obstacles include:

• temporary incapacity for work
• quarantine
• maternity leave
• parental leave
• caring for a (sick) child under 10 or another member of the household
• caring for a child under 10
• long-term care
• other important obstacles listed in the implementing regulation
• other important obstacles not listed in the implementing regulation
• secondment of a national expert

Other important personal obstacles to work

The list of other important personal obstacles to work is not provided by the Labour Code, but by Regulation No. 590/2006 Sb., which establishes the scope and extent of other important personal obstacles to work. Other obstacles to work that are not listed in the Regulation include, for example, sick days, unpaid leave, closure of school facilities during a pandemic, detention of the employee or serving a prison sentence.

The Regulation lists the following obstacles:

• examination or treatment at the nearest health facility
• examination or treatment at other than the nearest health facility
• work-related medical checkups, examinations and vaccinations
• interruption of traffic or public transport delays
• blocked route to work
• wedding
• birth of a child
• attending the birth of your wife
• funeral of close persons
• accompaniment
• funeral of a fellow employee
• moving
• seeking a new job

Obstacles to work on the part of the employer

As stated above, obstacles on the part of the employer are situations where the employer is unable to fulfil its obligations to assign work to the employee in accordance with the employment contract and pay the employee a wage or salary for the work performed. For the duration of the obstacles, employees are entitled to wage or salary compensation equal to their average earnings or at least a percentage thereof. The period for which these obstacles exist (unless the work is interrupted due to bad weather) is considered as work performance, which affects, for example, the calculation of leave. 

Obstacles to work on the part of the employer include:

• downtime (e.g. machinery failure)
• work interruptions due to adverse weather conditions (e.g. severe frost for an employee working outdoors)
• partial unemployment (e.g. temporary limitations on product sales or demand for services)
• time spent on activities on a business trip other than work tasks if it falls within a shift (e.g. waiting for a connection, journey)
• other obstacles to work on the employer’s part (e.g. planned shutdown or forced closure or restriction of operations due to emergency measures)

What issues do we typically handle for clients in relation to obstacles to work on the part of the employee and employer?

• What obstacles to work on the employee’s part can be recognised?
• What obstacles to work on the employer’s part can be recognised?
• Partial unemployment
• Downtime, transient defects caused by malfunctions
• Interrupted operation of the workplace – e.g. due to COVID-19
• When to pay the employee wages in the event of an obstacle on the employer’s part
• My employer refused to excuse my absence from work
• Transfer of staff to another position due to obstacles to work
• Obstacles caused by natural disasters
• Leave due to obstacles on the employer’s part
• Obstacles that qualify for state support
• Unpaid leave