Major changes to employers' COVID-19 responsibilities in the Czech Republic since March

UPDATE as of 17 March 2021: On 15 March 2021, the Government of the Czech Republic decided to extend the mandatory testing of employees to smaller employers who have 10 - 49 employees. Employers are obliged to arrange testing from 17 March 2021 and to invite employees to take part in the testing no later than 19 March 2021. From 26 March 2021, employees of these smaller employers may no longer enter the employer's workplace without a negative test, which is not older than 7 days. According to an earlier update, agency employees and cooperating self-employed persons are also considered to be employees for the purposes of mandatory testing.

The epidemiological situation in the Czech Republic remains serious and there is a rather negative outlook. In February, the spread of COVID-19 accelerated, despite all the efforts of the Czech government to reduce personal contact between citizens. The rapid spread of new variants of the COVID-19 virus has played a key role in the deterioration of the situation.

In response to the unfavourable development of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Czech government has taken the following extraordinary measures:

Restriction of freedom of movement

With effect from midnight on 1 March 2021 to 23:59 on 21 March 2021, the Czech government has restricted the free movement of people within the territory of the Czech Republic by prohibiting:

• all people from leaving the territory of the district or the city of Prague where they have permanent residence or domicile; and
• entry, movement and stay in the territory of the district or the capital city of Prague to all people who do not have their permanent residence or domicile in the territory of this district or the capital city of Prague.

At the same time, several exceptions to this restriction were allowed, one of which is traveling to work.

Employees can continue to work in a different district than the one of their permanent residence or domicile. However, they are obliged to prove the reason for using this exception with written confirmation from their employer, an employment contract or an employment or similar card, if they contain all necessary information. The certificate can also be issued for a certain period, and the Ministry of Interior has published a recommended (not binding) model of such a certificate on its website.

Furthermore, it still applies that no certificate or confirmation is required for commuting within the district or the capital city of Prague.

The government continues to encourage employers to allow their employees to work from home. For example, in administrative operations, only the necessary number of people to secure the protection of the property and basic functions should be at the workplace, otherwise all employees should work from home for the next three weeks.

Respiratory protective equipment

On 26 February 2021, the Ministry of Health issued an extraordinary measure authorizing the movement and stay:

• in all interiors of buildings (outside residence or accommodation), including interior spaces at workplaces;
• at all other publicly accessible places in the urban zone of the municipality; and
• at all other publicly accessible places outside the urban zone of the municipality, where at least two people less than 2 m apart are present at the same place and at the same time, unless they are members of one household;

only with following respiratory protective equipment (protecting nose, mouth):

1. a respirator or similar device (always without an exhalation valve) with a minimum filtration efficiency of at least 94% (eg FFP2, CN 95);
2. medical face mask; or
3. a similar device fulfilling at least all technical conditions and requirements of the ČSN EN 14683 + AC standard.

For some establishments (eg shops, service establishments or medical facilities) a stricter regime is established, where it is necessary to cover the mouth and nose exclusively by a respirator (see point a above) and it is not possible to replace it with a medical face mask or similar device.

The abovementioned rules do not apply, for example, to people during the performance of work at the workplace or during the performance of other similar activities for the period when they perform this activity in one place without the presence of another person.

Employers are now obliged to equip employees with respiratory protective equipment in sufficient numbers for each work shift. This obligation does not apply if the employee does not come into physical contact with other people during the performance of work and in connection with the performance of work (eg when working remotely outside the employer's workplace).

Safety breaks in relation to anti-epidemic measures against COVID-19

According to the opinion of the Ministry of Health of 24 February 2021, if the Ministry of Health orders the use of respiratory protective equipment, the employer is not obliged to set safety breaks.

The Ministry of Health justifies the above conclusion on the following grounds. The right to safety breaks arises if the following conditions are met: (i) the work is characterised as hazardous in accordance with the Public Health Protection Act (ie category 3, 4 or 2Y work); and (ii) the protective device is assigned as personal protective equipment. The extraordinary measure of the Ministry of Health prohibits movement and residence without respiratory protective equipment, not personal protective equipment, from which the Ministry concludes that the right to safety breaks in relation to anti-epidemic measures against COVID-19 does not apply.

However, such an interpretation appears to be narrow and contrary to the meaning and purpose of the provisions of Section 39 of Government Decree No. 361/2007 Coll., which specifies the conditions for the protection of health at work. It must not be overlooked that the purpose of providing safety breaks is to create working conditions for employees that allow them to perform their work safely. Providing the opportunity to take a break from the stress posed by wearing respiratory protective equipment is undoubtedly a necessary condition for safe work. This stress is present regardless of which regulation or whose requirement imposes the obligation to wear respiratory protective equipment. In this context, no other conclusion can be drawn than that safety breaks should always be provided if the employee has to wear respiratory protection permanently.

The Occupational Safety Research Institute reached the same conclusion and recommends treating respiratory protective equipment like personal protective equipment and, in connection with its use, granting employees individual breaks to rest when wearing respiratory protective equipment during working hours, for their replacement and for personal hygiene.

In view of the above, it is therefore advisable to respect safety breaks.

Testing for COVID-19

Voluntary testing

From 1 March 2021, employers have the opportunity to perform self-testing (ie testing without a health care provider) of their employees. The employer can obtain antigen tests within the standard distribution network, ie either in large quantities directly from the distributor or, if possible, eg in a pharmacy. However, the antigen tests must be those for which the Ministry of Health has issued an exemption pursuant to Section 4, Paragraph 8 of Government Decree No. 56/2015 Coll. It is also necessary that the tests are accompanied with instructions in the Czech language. The employer is obliged to acquaint all employees who will use the tests with the package information and instructions for the use of the tests. The invoice for purchased tests must be kept, as it may subsequently be subject to control by health insurance companies to provide a contribution from the prevention fund.

The health insurance company's contribution pays for a maximum of four tests per employee per month. However, the employer may voluntarily – and at their own expense – perform antigen tests more frequently. Once a month, the employer reports the number of tests performed to the health insurance companies of the individual employees tested using the appropriate forms. Insurance companies will reimburse the contribution up to CZK240 for a given month per person. The first settlement will take place after the end of March 2021.

Testing is not performed on individuals who have had laboratory-confirmed COVID-19, their isolation period has elapsed, no signs of COVID-19 have occurred, and no more than 90 days have elapsed since the first positive RT-PCR test or POC antigen test. These facts are to be proven by medical report. Furthermore, testing is not performed on individuals who provide a negative result to an RT-PCR test or a professionally performed POC antigen test that is not older than 48 hours and who do not have COVID-19 symptoms.

The employer is obliged to set aside a suitable space at the workplace for testing, such as an unused room or a room where there is no concentration of employees. They are also obliged to equip authorized employees assisting with the performance of tests with protective equipment (respirator class FFP2 / KN95, goggles, protective gloves). Testing can also be performed at home. In this case, the employee will perform the test before leaving for work.

Information on the performance and result of the employee's test, including insurance number, is recorded by the authorized employee in the overview of the performed tests. If the employee performs the test at home, they inform their employer of the result.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade originally recommended to continue to use the network of POC antigen test centres, where the examination is fully covered by public health insurance.. However with regard to the current workload of these centres, the form of self-testing is now emphasized, ideally at the employer's workplace. Employers can also continue to carry out this testing through external providers.

Mandatory testing

In addition to the abovementioned voluntary testing of employees, the Ministry of Health has also introduced the need for mandatory testing of employees in the case of larger employers:

• For employers with 250 employees and more:

- as of 3 March 2021 employers must ensure the system of testing their employees;

- as of 5 March 2021 they must ask their employees to take the test; and

- as of 12 March 2021 employees who have not been tested in the past seven days must not be allowed access to the workplace.

• For enterprises with 50 to 249 employees:

- as of 5 March 2021 employers must ensure the system of testing their employees;

- as of 8 March 2021 they must ask their employees to take the test; and

- until 15 March 2021 employees who have not been tested in the past seven days must not be allowed access to the workplace.

In both cases the test must be repeated at least once a week and the testing obligation does not apply to employees working from home.

The actual testing of employees can then be provided by employers in the following ways:

• cooperation with the current work-related medical services provider of the employer (onsite testing);
• contractual relationship with other external medical services provider (onsite testing);
• using current state system of testing sites (offsite testing);
• testing in premises of other medical services providers (offsite testing) – ie GPs, outpatient specialists, dentists, and other testing providers;
• self-testing (onsite or offsite);

• In this case the employer will buy the self-tests and provide them to employees.
• The testing could be performed directly onsite under specific hygienic and safety conditions or the employees may perform test at home and inform the employer properly (although this form of self-testing does not follow directly from the text of the measure, this form is still presented by state authorities as one of the possible ones).
• Health insurance companies will contribute (currently CZK60 per test – max four tests per employee and month) – see voluntary testing system.

Company catering

From 2 March 2021, the operation of company catering services for employees will be reduced. The relevant facilities can now only function as food and refreshment outlets for employees, but employees cannot consume purchased food and refreshments directly in these facilities. The aim is to ensure that employees do not gather when eating. This measure was soon corrected with effect from 3 March 2021, and eating meals in the relevant facilities is again possible, but with adequate hygienic restrictions. Only one person may be seated at one table, and in the case of a long table, there must be at least a 2 m gap between people or mechanical barriers that prevent droplets from spreading.

Summary and recommendations

These changes represent relatively fundamental changes in the obligations of the employer in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic. If you encounter any problems or ambiguities during the implementation of the new measures, do not hesitate to contact us. We will be happy to help you.

Please note that with respect to the development of the pandemic situation, the measures taken, including the related interpretation, are often modified. In this context, it is always necessary to verify whether the information provided is still up to date.