New labour inspection office begins operations

In July 2005, the labour inspection act entered into force, under which a new institution – the State Labour Inspection Office – and eight regional inspectorates have been created. The new office merges the agenda of the Czech Work Safety Authority and its inspectorates (abolished as of 1 July 2005), as well as part of the agenda of the labour offices’ inspectorates. The state authorities and trade unions believe that the new organisation will act as an effective control; however, the employers consider that the office is weakened by some duplication of roles.

Areas of responsibility of new office

The State Labour Inspection Office (Státní úrad inspekce práce, SÚIP) and its eight regional inspectorates were set up on 1 July 2005 as a result of Act No. 251/2005 Coll. on labour inspection. The office monitors compliance with legal regulations that provide rights to or impose obligations on employees, the relevant trade union bodies and representatives in the area of health and safety at work. Legal regulations on employee remuneration are included within the remit of the office, which has replaced the Czech Work Safety Authority and its inspectorates, as well as part of the agenda of the labour offices’ inspectorates.

The new office also checks compliance with legal regulations stipulating working hours and rest times (breaks), and regulations on the implementation of health and safety at work. Furthermore, the authority may monitor adherence to legal regulations on the employment of women, young people and employees caring for children or for dependent individuals. In addition, the inspectorate monitors compliance with collective bargaining agreements and with the employer’s internal regulations if employee claims arise (CZ0507101N).

The labour offices continue to ensure adherence to the law on employment – penalising illegal employment and discrimination in the workplace – and to the law on protection of employees in the event of an employer’s insolvency.

Extent and nature of submissions

The State Labour Inspection Office and its regional inspectorates receive approximately 550 submissions, complaints and suggestions each month, drawing attention to real and sometimes imaginary breaches of the law on labour relations. Much of the information contained in the submissions cannot be proven as employees are reluctant to testify, fearing that they might lose their jobs.

The most common offences registered by the work inspectorates are in the area of industrial relations, the majority of which concern the employment relationship, namely the content and conclusion of employment contracts, changes to employment contracts, termination of employment and wrongful use of agreements on occasional work performed outside an employment relationship.

Contract of employment

Regarding the content and manner of concluding employment contracts, the type of work and place of work are very often not stated in job contracts or are only briefly outlined, which ensures that the employer has sufficient flexibility and can change work tasks and the place of work if necessary. Making changes to the job description without an employee’s consent or the absence of any written work specifications in the employment contract are similarly often carried out by the employer to maximise flexibility.

Termination of employment

A series of violations pertain to employers giving notice or immediately terminating employment. Employers often react to downward trends in the level of incoming work orders by putting pressure on employees to visit the doctor and draw on sickness benefits for a period of time. This temporarily resolves the problem of a lack of work in the company due to a fall in orders, for instance. Employers may also choose to dismiss an employee without entitlement to severance pay. Such conduct by employers is based on the assumption that employees do not know their rights and have no desire to resolve disputes through the courts.

Misuse of occasional work agreements

Other areas where there are breaches of the law include the conclusion of agreements on work performed outside an employment relationship. Such agreements, intended purely for occasional work tasks confined to 100 hours of work per calendar year, are wrongfully used to conclude employment relations exceeding this limit. This stratagem is used by the employer and employee to avoid having to pay social security and health insurance, and contributions to the state employment policy.

Working conditions

Data on infringements of working conditions regulations are so far only available for 2004. The data reveal that most shortcomings were found in the area of work safety, including insufficient employee training, risk detection and lack of attention to safe working conditions. Further shortcomings were found in relation to matching workers’ health to their capacity to perform work.

Views of the social partners

The new act on labour inspection has partially integrated the role under the authority of a single body. The state authorities and the trade unions expect that this rearrangement of powers will ensure a comprehensive supervision of compliance with labour relations and working conditions law. A more effective inspectorate should bring about a gradual change in employers’ and employees’ rather tolerant attitudes to breaches of labour law to date.

Conversely, employers are generally dissatisfied with the distribution of authority and competences within the work inspectorate. For example, the largest association of employers, the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (Svaz prumyslu a dopravy CR, SP CR), notes the overlap in supervisory authority functions: in addition to SÚIP, the employers’ respective trade unions are also authorised to monitor compliance with labour regulations, the company’s internal regulations and obligations arising from collective bargaining agreements. The trade unions also have the authority to carry out employer inspections regarding health and safety at work.

SP CR demands that this duplication be remedied, by removing or reducing the authority of the trade unions. At present, the supervisory activity of the unions in the area of safety is supported financially by the state. According to SP CR, this weakens the position of SÚIP.

Jaroslav Hála, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs