All citizens in the Czech Republic have the right to choose their profession freely and they have the right to work anywhere in the country according to paragraph §11, zákona č. 435/2004 Sb., o zaměstnanosti.
The right to work belongs to all citizens of the Czech Republic that want to and can work and are looking for work in order to enter the workforce according to the laws set out in §10 of the Employment Act. Foreign nationals interested in working in the Czech Republic enjoy the same rights as Czech citizens (i.e. the same rights – see above) if they hold a permanent residency permit or if they are EU citizens or have been granted asylum, or if they enjoy the same rights under an international treaty (e.g. citizens of Slovakia). Foreign nationals must hold a work permit and residency visa .
Job vacancies can also be found through the information system EURES – European portal of working mobility – which offers easy access to information about job vacancies and education opportunities within the European Union. The new EURES (launched at the beginning of 2006) offers free access to job offers posted by state Jobcentres – thus free job vacancies in the Czech Republic.
Important web pages:
• Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
• Employment portal launched by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
• Labor Office
Most of job vacancies can be found through the Jobcentres of the Labor Office. Employers have the obligation to report any open positions. Job seekers come to Jobcentres looking for a job on their own or with the assistance of agents.
Jobcentres
Jobs for unemployed Czech citizens (and foreign nationals enjoying the same position as Czech citizens) are procured by Czech Labor Offices or by employment agencies (please see the links above) relevant to the district of the citizens' or foreign nationals' permanent (or reported) residence. Information on vacancies and advisory services can be provided by any Labor Office. The services provided by the Labour Office are free of charge.
Job seekers' registry
A citizen (or a foreign national enjoying the same status as a Czech citizen) not being employed or similarly engaged* for work and not being a self-employed and not being a student (and meeting other conditions – see below) will be registered with the job seekers' registry.
*Enlistment in the job seekers' registry is not a barrier for working on a specific agreement; the only two conditions are that this work has to be done in range lower than half normal weekly labor time and monthly wage is lover than half of the minimum wage ( under Section 25(3) of Act No. 1/1991 Coll., on Employment).
The job seeker may fill in the data either him/herself or with the help of a labor officer.
The citizen (or a foreign national enjoying the same position as a Czech citizen) applying for mediation of employment must attach a certificate verifying his/her identity, citizenship and permanent residency to the application. In addition, he/she must present proof of termination of his/her employment, self-employment or studies, documents on his/her professional skills (school-leaving exam, traineeship certificate, diploma, etc.); persons taking care of minors must in addition present the birth certificates of their children, persons with disabilities must present a medical report or a decision on a altered working capacity or a decision on disability pension.
Once the job seeker is registered with the job seekers' registry, the state pays his/her health insurance and social security premiums, until he/she is deleted from the registry.
Note!
Foreign nationals with a residency visa for over 90 days (for the purpose of employment or business) or a long-term residency visa may not be registered with the job seekers' registry (unless they are citizens of a state being a party to a bilateral treaty on employment signed by the Czech Republic). They may seek employment via the Internet or address any private agency (See below).
Job seekers registered with the job seekers' registry are entitled to be mediated a suitable employment, i.e. employment corresponding to their health, age, professional skills and capabilities, previous work experience and accommodation opportunities (under Section 1(4) of the Act on Employment). Suitable employment is employment that will pay health and social security insurance and whose work week is no less than 80% of a regular work week and where the contract is for an indefinite or definite period of time, longer than 3 months.
The job seeker must provide the Labor Office with the necessary cooperation when invited (i.e. attending a meeting at the Labor Office as arranged, for instance). The job seeker must notify the Labor Office of all changes in facts decisive for the registry of job seekers (e.g. if he/she finds a job him/herself) within eight calendar days.
The job seeker may be deleted from the register if he rejects a suitable job (offered by the Labor Office and fitting his/her qualifications or skills) without a reason or if he/she intentionally hinders coordination of the Labour Office in its efforts to mediate employment or if he/she refuses to undergo an agreed upon requalification; in such cases, the job seeker may be registered with the registry after six months (under Section 30 of the Employment Act).
Free jobs registered by all Labor Offices in the Czech Republic are on the official web portal of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.
Employment can be found also through other ways than the Labor Office:
Private personnel agencies
Private personnel agencies can help foreigners (even with intermediate residency status) in finding a job. Private personnel agencies (natural persons or corporate bodies) need a license issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (“License to facilitate the employment of foreigners on the territory of the Czech Republic”). More information about terms of this license can be found under Section 58-65 of the Act on Employment.
Intermediary action of employment by a private agency (under Section 14(1b) of the Act on Employment) means conclusion of a work agreement between natural person and private personnel agency for work for another natural person or corporate body (“user” in text). A personnel agency can temporarily assign its employee for work to the user, but only in virtue of a written agreement about the temporarily assignment of the employee between the user and the agency under Section 38 of the Labor Code (under Section 66, the Act on Employment).
Facilitating employment can be provided either for free or for a fee, even for a fee with profit. During the employment's facilitation, no fee can be taken from the job seeker (as a natural person).
Any wage reductions (or reductions from other remuneration paid to employee) in favor of agency or user are prohibited (under Section 58 (2-3) Act on Employment).
Searching for a job individually on the Internet
There are lot of job servers on the Internet. The structure of job offers is usually according to field of activity or region. Some job servers are listed below (they are mostly in Czech):
Unemployment Benefits
A job seeker registered with a Czech Labor Office who has not been provided with a suitable job or re-qualification program (See below) for a new suitable job within seven calendar days after he/she has filed the application, is entitled to unemployment relief.
Unemployment relief is provided to job seekers who meet the condition of the aggregate duration of previous employment of at least 12 months of the three years prior to the job application has been filed and where the person paid social and medical insurance and who up to the day of his/her application was not on old age pension under Section 39 paragraph 1 of the Employment Act.
For the purposes of the preceding paragraph, duration of employment includes the duration of:
1. preparations for a job by a citizen with limited working capacity (in the Czech Republic),
2. (substitute) military service in the Czech armed forces,
3. civil service in the Czech Republic,
4. personal care of a child under 4 years or a child with a long-term disability under 18 years of age in need of intensive care,
5. personal care of a partially or fully dependent relative or a partially dependent person older than 80, who lives with the job seeker in the same household
6. period of full disability pension (from the Czech pension insurance),
7. long-term voluntary service (abroad – this applies to permanent residents only) exceeding 20 hours in a calendar week under an agreement concluded with the sending organization accredited by the Czech Ministry of the Interior,
However, the listed periods are not included in the duration of employment, if they overlap with previous employments. If the listed periods overlap, they are counted only once (under Section 41 of the Act on Employment).
The job seeker is not entitled to unemployment relief, if he/she:
1. during the period of requalification
2. is eligible for old age or full disability pension (from Czech insurance);
3. is eligible to sickness benefits compensating the lost wage (income);
4. is imprisoned in the Czech Republic (according to section 44 of the Employment Act)
The Duration of unemployment relief
The job seeker is entitled to unemployment relief benefits if they meet the conditions for the period of support.
• Up until the age of 50 for a period of 6 months
• Between the ages of 50 and 55 for a period of 9 months if the job seeker has been paying social insurance for a period of at least 25 years
• Over 55 years of age for a period of 12 months if the job seeker has been paying social insurance for a period fo at least 30 years (according to section 43 of the Employment Act)
The Amount of unemployment relief benefits
The amount of unemployment benefits is calculated on the basis of average net income generated by the job seeker in his/her last employment; the benefits amount to 50% of this income in the first three months and 45% of this income in the remaining period.
For persons who were self-employed before applying for mediation of employment, the unemployment benefits are calculated on the basis of the last assessment and converted to 1 calendar month. The amount payed out is equal 50% of the calculated base for the first 3 months of the unemployment period and 45% of the calculated base for the remaining time of the unemployment support.
The maximum amount of support during the unemployment period is 2.5 times the amount of the minimum necessary for life. This is applicable to individual citizens older than 26 years of age on the day of submitting their application for unemployment insurance (according to section 50 of the Employment Act)
Job seekers having carried out the activities listed in Section 13 immediately before being registered with the job seekers' register (See the above-mentioned Section 13) and unable to document the average monthly net income will be paid unemployment benefits amounting to 50% of the subsistence minimum for the first three months and 40% of the subsistence minimum valid for citizens older than 26 years of age as per the day the job seeker becomes entitled to unemployment relief, for the remaining period (See related link ”Subsistence minimum”) (under Section 51 of the Act on Employment).
Note!
Unemployment support is not payed out overseas if the internation contract to which the Czech Republic is bound does not stipulate otherwise (according to section 57 of the Employment Act)
Re-qualification
For the purposes of unemployment relief, re-qualification means a change or expansion in the job seeker’s current qualification by means of acquiring new knowledge and skills through theoretical or practical work, allowing the job seeker to find a suitable job (section 108, paragraph 1 of the Employment Act). In deciding whether or not the job seeker qualifies for re-qualification, the following criteria will be taken into consideration: current qualifications, health status, abilities, experiences, etc...
The applicant has no direct entitlement to re-qualification. In deciding whether the applicant is to take part in a re-qualification course, the Labor Office shall evaluate whether the re-qualification is necessary for his/her further employment.
The job seeker is re-qualified under a written agreement with the Labor Office that has offered the re-qualification program. The agreement will specify the contents of the re-qualification, the method and time of re-qualification and the unemployment benefits eligibility conditions during the re-qualification (Section 109(2) of the Act on Employment).
More information on re-qualification programs on offer is available at the web pages of Czech Labor Offices. For more information, address a Labor Office.
Relief during re-qualification
Relief during re-qualification is given to the applicant who is in the job seekers' register and who is attending a re-qualification course held by the Labor Office (Section 109, Act on Employment) until the date of admission of relief is not a beneficiary of retirement pension.
Relief during re-qualification is provided through all re-qualification time, except the time of providing a retirement pension, health benefits insurance or in the case of custody. The Labor Office decides about relief during re-qualification (under Section 40, Act on Employment).
Relief amount during re-qualification is constructed by a percentage rate from net monthly wage (in case of a self-employed person, it is counted from the last rate base) that the job seeker most recently had. In case this income or rate base is impossible to find out (in cases under Section 51, Act of Employment), the relief amount during re-qualification is based on the subsistence minimum.
Relief during re-qualification percentage rate is 60% of average monthly wage or rate base or in other cases 60% of the subsistence minimum.
The maximum amount of relief during re-qualification is 2.8 times the subsistence minimum valid for a single citizen older than 26 at the time of beginning the re-qualification (under Section 50, Act on Employment).
Note!
Unemployment support is not payed out overseas if the internation contract to which the Czech Republic is bound does not stipulate otherwise (according to section 57 of the Employment Act)
