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Overview
The Czech Labour Code (Act No. 262/2006 Coll.) prohibits discrimination in labour relations (i.e. all employer-employee relations), whilst discrimination against job applicants during the recruitment process is prohibited in the Act on Employment (Act No. 435/2004 Coll.). The Labour Code contains a general prohibition against discrimination only and further refers to the Anti-Discrimination Act (Act No. 198/2009 Coll.). The Anti-Discrimination Act (the "Act") was passed on 17 June 2009 after nearly two years of the legislative process. The Act is in force as of 1 September 2010.
The Act prohibits discrimination against an individual on grounds stipulated therein. It covers other grounds as well as age discrimination. The law prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination, with harassment, victimisation, instruction to discriminate and inciting discrimination also separately protected for other discriminatory grounds (including age).
According to the Labour Code, age discrimination does not include, however, a difference in treatment based on age where, because of the nature of the particular occupational activities concerned or the context in which they are carried out, age is a genuine and determining occupational requirement. It must be a legitimate requirement and it must be an adequate one.
Who's covered?
As already noted, age discrimination is generally prohibited in labour relations, which covers not only employees or job applicants but also agency workers.
All age groups are covered within the age discrimination legislation. It does not give any specific age limit; it covers both old and young persons.
That said, there are special acts governing the performance of state services. They provide for the termination of a state-employment relationship once the employee reaches a specific age. For example, judges and public prosecutors must retire at 70 years old, professional soldiers upon reaching the statutory retirement age.
What enforcement/remedies exist?
There are no criminal sanctions when an individual or company breaches the rules prohibiting age discrimination.
The Act sets out that, where rights and duties concerning equal treatment or discrimination in labour relations are infringed, the employee concerned is entitled to demand that the employer desist, provide rectification of the consequences and provide appropriate satisfaction. If an employee's dignity or reputation at the workplace is substantially harmed, he may claim monetary compensation. The Labour Code also stipulates that disputes between an employer and an employee over entitlements ensuing from an employment relationship shall be decided by ordinary courts (there are no Employment Tribunals or other special courts or bodies).
The law currently has no maximum or minimum limit for monetary compensation. When calculating compensation, the court considers the consequences of the discrimination.
Finally according to the Work Inspection Act (Act No. 251/2005 Coll.), such discrimination can form an offence. An employer found to age-discriminate against employees can be fined up to CZK 400,000 (€16,000). Furthermore, the Act on Employment sets the fine for a legal entity breaching the obligation not to discriminate against job applicants at a maximum of CZK 1 million (€41,000).
How common are claims?
Claims concerning discrimination in employment matters are quite rare in the Czech Republic.
The dearth in discrimination case law is explained by the fact that Czech anti-discriminatory legislation is fairly new and, moreover, employees are not generally accustomed to protecting their rights in court.
What claims are most common and what are trickiest issues for employers?
As already mentioned, we are only aware of a few cases claiming age discrimination. These concerned the recruitment process at an employer, when a job applicant was not hired due to her age and dismissal based on organisational changes where as the outcome of such changes was termination of employment of older employees and subsequent hiring younger employees.
We generally do not expect blue-collar employees to sue their employers for age discrimination. Such employees are usually unaware of their rights and, moreover, are afraid of losing their jobs. However, white-collar employees in executive functions with more legal information, greater knowledge of their rights and better access to legal advice might potentially bring a claim before the court.
Are there any specific exceptions in your laws?
The minimum wage for youth workers (i.e. employees younger than 18 years) is only 80% of the minimum wage set for other older employees. But, that said, youth employees have much more legal protection than older employees; they may not perform certain hard labour jobs or enter into some special agreements (e.g. an indemnity agreement). The minimum wage for workers from 18 to 21 in their first employment is 90% for the first six months of their employment.
Further, the relevant law governs the different retirement ages for men (currently 63 years) and women (currently 59 years, less according to the number of children). The retirement ages for men and women will grow and will be unified at 65 years by 2030.
Certain categories of employees (state-service employees) are governed by special laws.
Retirement ages
There is no retirement age in the Czech Republic - an employer may not force an employee to retire when he/she reaches a specific age (e.g. an official age enabling employees to draw pension benefits, please see above). Exceptions to this for special categories of state employees are stipulated in special acts (please see retirement ages mentioned above).
Retired employees who draw a pension may also concurrently conclude an employment relationship or be self-employed.
Nevertheless, an employer may dismiss an (older) employee if his/her performance is worse than the performance of other (younger) employees doing the same work; the dismissal must be objectively justified (i.e. the reason of such dismissal must be poor work performance, not the fact that the employee is old).
Interesting cases
As already mentioned above, we are only aware of a few age discrimination cases.
In one case a job applicant was refused employment on age grounds (she was 50 years old). The job applicant lost the case because she failed to prove that her prospective employer had said exactly: "the job applicant is too old for this job" (as in UK law, Czech law requires a reverse burden of proof in discrimination claims, the claimant is initially obliged to prove that the declared fact did occur).
Further, there was a case considered by Czech Constitutional Court. The court ruled that it may be considered as discriminatory a reorganisation at a workplace whose consequence is dismissal of older employees and subsequent hiring younger employees. The court issued such ruling only on the basis of statistical overview which proved the age discrepancy between the dismissed and hired employees, although the particular dismissals were considered as valid and non-discriminatory.