The concept of “workers” shall not be newly defined, but relies on the existing concept of “employees” (in Czech „zaměstnanci“) under the Labour Code. This reflects the Directive’s wide personal scope, which applies to all individuals performing work under an employment relationship, regardless of its form. 

Yes, Czech draft transposing act is to require the employers to establish a formal remuneration system (new § 109a of the Labour Code) comprising:

• the form and components of pay,

• the method for determining remuneration,

• the criteria for differentiating pay levels, and

• the classification of jobs into groups based on their value, according to objective criteria such as complexity, responsibility, and strenuousness. 

The „work of equal value“ is concept already defined under Section 110(2) of the current Labour Code (i.e. work of the same or comparable complexity, responsibility and strenuousness which is performed in the same or comparable working conditions and which is of equal or comparable work efficiency and brings equal or comparable work results).

The minimum level of salary or wage and other monetary benefits and benefits of monetary value that the employee would be entitled to from the beginning of the employment relationship.

Under the Czech draft transposing legislation, the information on pay would have to be provided in a demonstrable manner no later than before the commencement of negotiations on the conclusion of an employment contract.

The prohibition on asking about salary history applies to job applicants; the draft law does not make a specific distinction between internal and external candidates.

The draft legislation does not specifically regulate the approach to internal candidates applying for a new role.

Current legislation, the Employment Act (Act No. 435/2004 Coll.) prohibits discriminatory job advertisements, and thus deals with this topic already.

The employer will have to provide, upon a written request by employee:

• information on the employee’s individual level of pay (including wages/salary and other monetary benefits) and on the average level of pay for a group of employees performing the same or equivalent work, as the employee performed in past calendar year,

• this information must be broken down by gender,

• and expressed both in total annual and hourly terms. 

The employer will also be obliged to provide, upon request, completion or clarification of the information, if incomplete or unclear.

Under the Czech transposing legislation, information on pay must be provided upon request and in a structured, verifiable manner. Pay system will have to take form of internal regulation or be a part of collective bargaining agreement, which have to take written form.

The legislation focuses on terms "objective and anti-discriminatory“ criteria, which provide broader protection than only "gender-neutral“.

No

“Pay” under the Czech draft legislation is to be understood as a comprehensive concept, including not only base salary but also all monetary and non-monetary benefits with monetary value. 

There is no general rule allowing employers to exclude specific pay components at their discretion. 

The information must be provided within two months from the employee’s request.

The form is not stated, however, the employer should be able to evidence compliance with the regulation. Under some views, this implies obligatory written form (unsure).

No.

Employees shall be able to submit the request individually, through employee representatives (e.g. trade unions or works council), or through the Public Defender of Rights (equality body).

The workers would have a specific right to request clarification and correction where the information provided is inaccurate or incomplete.

Yes, the information is to be provided to all employees at least once a calendar year.

The Czech transposing legislation does not explicitly require that pay information be provided in the local language. However, under general principles of Czech labour law, information provided to employees must be clear, understandable and accessible. This implies that it should be communicated in a language the employee understands, which will typically be Czech in most cases.

Employers cannot prevent workers from disclosing their own pay, but they may impose limited restrictions on the use of other pay-related information obtained through transparency mechanisms, in order to protect confidentiality and ensure it is used only for enforcing equal pay rights. 

This prohibition already existed under Czech law, the draft transposing legislation further specifies and aligns this rule with the Directive.

Czech law does not introduce different workforce thresholds from those in the Directive, as it includes the same key thresholds (100/150/250 employees).

Under the Czech transposing legislation, there are no sector-specific exemptions Smaller employers are subject to fewer administrative requirements, while still being bound by the fundamental principles of pay transparency and equal pay. The principles of the Directive are to be implemented for certain groups of works, such as soldiers, taking into account specific regulations they are subject to by amendment to the profession-specific legislation (acts).

An employer has six months to remedy unjustified gender pay differences. 

The Czech transposing legislation requires employers to identify, analyse and address unjustified pay differences, including through corrective measures outlined in the pay assessment that such employer will have to conduct in written form 

The employer must consult the pay assessment conducted with workers' representatives.

As regards public authorities, the labour inspectorate acts in a supervisory and enforcement capacity, the Public Defender of Rights may be involved, for example, by providing opinions for which the employer may ask, but neither is required to participate directly in the remedial process itself.

Czech law does not define “close cooperation” and does not require reaching agreement with workers’ representatives. 

Pay assessment will have to be carried out if:

• a gender pay gap of at least 5% is identified at a work group in the pay system,

• the gap is not legitimately justified, and

• the employer fails to remedy it within 6 months.

Pay assessment will have to be conducted in writing and will have to include, in particular:

• an analysis of the proportion of men and women in each group of work,

• information on the average pay levels of men and women within those groups,

• identification of pay differences (gender pay gaps),

• identification of the causes of those differences,

• data on pay developments in specific situations (e.g. after return from parental-related leave, where relevant),

• measures aimed at eliminating unjustified pay differences, including a timeline for their implementation,

• and an evaluation of the effectiveness of measures adopted in previous assessments.

The employer will have to:

• publish the assessment internally in a manner accessible to all employees,

• provide it to workers’ representatives, if they operate at the employer,

• provide it to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs,

and additionally:

• provide it to the labour inspectorate and the Public Defender of Rights (equality body) upon their request

Yes, Czech law explicitly limits access to information where disclosure would reveal the pay of an identifiable employee by requesting the employer to fulfill the information obligation of the employer towards the Public Defender of Rights instead of the requesting party, prohibiting publication of the information within the assessment. The workers’ representatives are also limited in handling with the information – they must take steps to ensure that no information regarding the amount of remuneration for work or other monetary payments and payments of monetary value of a specific employee is disclosed or provided.

Under the Czech draft transposing act, breaches of gender pay transparency and reporting obligations are subject to administrative sanctions, primarily fines imposed by labour inspectorates, under the Act on Labour Inspection.

The amount of penalties that can be imposed onto the breaching employer vary – the penalties limits are set at up to CZK 200,000, CZK 400,000 or CZK 1, 000,000, depending on the type and seriousness of the administrative offence.

The worker could enforce his/her rights by means of civil law action against the employer. In the proceedings, the worker would benefit from reversed burden of proof (the employer would be required to prove that the principle of equal treatment has not been violated in such case). Finally, the worker would be entitled to compensation of harm resulting from breaches of equal pay, including compensation for immaterial harm based on Anti-Discrimination Act (as well to be amended). The worker could also claim its rights via assistance of the Public Defender of Rights. 

The Czech transposing legislation does not introduce a new or autonomous definition of “workers’ representatives” for the purposes of pay transparency. Under the Czech Labour Code, “workers’ representatives” are defined as including trade unions, works councils, and employee representatives for occupational safety and health. Consequently, the draft implementing act refers to trade unions and/or work councils explicitly where appropriate.

In such case, the employer will have to publish in a manner accessible to all employees the information about the obligation to carry out a pay assessment, and right to carry out the pay assessment without consultation with the employees’ representative, unless there are trade unions or the employer receives a proposal for election of works council after  30 days from information publication date. If representatives are established within the deadline, the employer must carry out the assessment and discuss it with them at that stage.

Under the Czech transposing legislation, the rights of workers’ representatives are implemented primarily through rights to information and mandatory consultation. The draft legislation follows this approach.

Failure to comply with these obligations would constitute an administrative offence, potentially leading to fines, and an obligation to remedy the non-compliance.

The employer will have to consult with the employees’ representative on the pay gap report prior to its provision to the ministry and consult with them on the pay assessment prior to its publication at the employer. 

Employees could raise a complaint with supervisory body – Labour Inspection, revert to workers’ representative at the employer, to the Public Defender of Rights. They could also initiate civil law proceedings, in case of discrimination.

Based on the Czech draft act of transposing legislation, there is no explicit, detailed framework of technical assistance or training for employers set out directly in the statutory text. 

However, the legislation does envisage institutional and methodological support in a more indirect way, primarily through the role of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the role of the Public Defender of Rights (the latter, for example by means of provision of opinion on implementation of measures resulting from a pay assessment within the remedial measures adoption process).

N/A

N/A

The draft law transposing the Directive into Czech legislation is still at the start of the legislative process and may still be subject to changes.

The replies to the questions raised in this questionnaire are thus not final and may change with the development of the legislative process.