Manifestations of the so-called flexi-novella of the Labor Code upon termination of employment by notice given to an employee by the employer

Posted by: 16. 6. 2025
Update: 16/6/2025

The so-called flexinovella Act No. 262/2006 Coll., Labor Code, as amended, effective from
1. June 2025, brings fundamental changes in the field of labor law, including in connection with the termination of employment. The main The aim of the new legislation is to increase flexibility employment relationships arising between employees and their employers and introduce greater freedom of contract into the, in some cases, too rigid environment of currently applicable legal regulations, with the ambition to reflect the needs of the modern labor market. This article brings basic summary of announced changes, with emphasis on termination of employment by notice given to the employee by the employer.

Changing the start of the notice period

One of the key changes is the adjustment of the start of the notice period. According to the current legal regulation, the notice period only started to run on the first day of the month following the month in which the notice was delivered.The notice period will now start running on the day the notice is delivered. and ends on the day that coincides with this day in number. If there is no such day in the last month, the end of the notice period falls on the last day of the month. This means that if the employer delivers the notice to the employee on, for example, April 12, the notice period will start from this day and end on June 12.

Shortening the notice period

Another significant change is the possibility of shortening the notice period to one month in the event that the employer gives notice to the employee for the reasons specified in Section 52 letters f), g) and h) of the Labor Code, which represent situations in which the employer cannot fairly be required to maintain the employee in the employment relationship for another two months.

In practice, there will often be cases where trust is broken to such an extent that it will no longer be possible to fully involve the employee in the performance of work tasks, or the employer will not be able to assign work to the employee for objective reasons because such an employee no longer meets the legal requirements for performing a given type of work.

Possibility of contractual adjustment of the notice period

The Flexinovela of the Labor Code also introduces to the parties of an employment relationship the possibility of agreeing on a different calculation of the notice period than that stipulated by law. This means that the employer and the employee may agree in writing on a different start date for the notice period or its length, unless this is contrary to the law, with the exception of notices given for reasons pursuant to Section 52 letters f) to h) of the Labour Code, for which the notice period shall start on the day of delivery. The parties may therefore, for example, agree that the notice period shall start on the first day of the following calendar month, as under the current legal regulations.

Merging reasons for termination of employment related to long-term loss of health capacity of an employee

Within the framework of the amended version of the Labor Code, there will be merging of grounds for termination pursuant to Section 52 letters d) and e) to Section 52 letter d) of the Labor Code, which will be the only one to contain the reason for termination consisting in the fact that the employee has lost the ability to perform his/her previous work due to his/her health condition for a long time.

The reason for termination further contained in Section 52(e) of the Labor Code will apply to situations where an employee has reached the maximum permissible exposure at the workplace determined by a decision of the competent public health protection authority. The amendment aims to minimize cases where, in the context of judicial review, dismissals given to employees by employers were found invalid, solely due to the confusion of the relevant letters of the relevant provision of the Labor Code., because the employer, and therefore the provider of occupational health services, incorrectly estimated the causes of the employee's loss of medical fitness.

Extension of the subjective and objective period for giving notice due to breach of an obligation arising from legal regulations relating to the work performed or for a reason for which the employment relationship can be immediately terminated

Another change brought about by the so-called flexinovela to the Labor Code is extension of the subjective and objective period for giving notice due to breach of an obligation arising from legal regulations relating to the work performed or for a reason for which the employment relationship can be terminated immediately.

It is often difficult for an employer to obtain, within the previously standardized period of 2 months from the moment when he learned of a violation of a specific work obligation by an employee (subjective period), or within 12 months from the date when the reason for dismissal arose (objective period), all relevant information and factual circumstances that are intended to serve to assess the seriousness of such a violation so that he can then proceed to issue the dismissal itself, or so that the dismissal granted on the basis of such a process is not determined to be invalid in the context of a judicial review.

As part of the amendment process, there is therefore extension of the relevant subjective deadline by one month, i.e. this will be 3 months, and in the case of objective deadlines to be extended by three months, i.e. this will be 15 months.

One-time compensation upon termination of employment

The latest amendment to the Labour Code also introduces a new type of lump-sum compensation for non-pecuniary damage in the event of an accident at work, an occupational disease or a threat of such a disease, namely a lump-sum compensation upon termination of employment. This should be provided in the amount of 12 times the average monthly earnings and should be paid to an employee whose employment relationship is terminated by notice given by the employer pursuant to Section 52 letter d) of the Labour Code, as amended, on the grounds that, due to his or her state of health according to a medical opinion issued by a provider of occupational health services or a decision of the competent administrative authority reviewing the medical opinion, he or she has lost the long-term ability to continue performing his or her previous work due to an accident at work, an occupational disease or a threat of such a disease.

The employee is also entitled to a lump sum compensation if the employment relationship was terminated by an agreement concluded for the same reason. The lump sum compensation should be specific to the employee. employee reimbursed by his employer's insurance company, unlike the employee's entitlement to severance pay, which the flexinovel of the Labor Code preserved, apart from the grounds for termination pursuant to Section 52 letters a) to c) of the Labor Code, even in the case where the employment relationship with the employee is terminated by notice or agreement on the grounds that he or she reached the highest permissible exposure at the workplace determined by the decision of the competent public health protection authority, while the employee is still entitled to severance pay from the employer pursuant to Section 67 of the Labor Code, as this does not concern compensation for an occupational accident or occupational disease.

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The so-called flexinovela of the Labor Code represents the legislator's first step in the effort to evolve labor relations, towards greater flexibility, while maintaining adequate protection for employees, as weaker contracting parties. The application of the relevant amended provisions should lead to a partial relaxation of the current rigid rules and a certain expansion of employers' room for maneuver when concluding, implementing and terminating employment relationships, all with the intention of stimulating the labor market and thereby contributing to economic growth.

Source: Epravo.cz

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