Time off work related to a children and youth event is a hindrance to work for reasons of general interest.
Act No. 321/2023 Coll. amended Act No. 262/2006 Coll., the Labour Code, as amended (hereinafter referred to as the "Labour Code"), with effect from 1 January 2024, in which Section 203a comprehensively regulates the issues of leave of absence related to events for children and youth, including the conditions under which an employee is entitled to wage or salary compensation.
Time off work related to events for children and young people from 1 January 2024
Continued in accordance with the wording of the Labour Code with effect from 1 January 2024 the employee is entitled to time off work For another an act of general interest for the activities of leaders of camps for children and youth, their representatives for economic and health matters, team leaders, educators, instructors and paramedical staff in camps for children and youth and for similar activities at sports camps for children and youth, to the extent necessary, but no more than 3 weeks per calendar year, unless serious operational reasons on the part of the employer prevent this.
The terms camp and sports camp is not defined in the legislation. They include a time-limited event for children and young people, irrespective of the duration and number of participants of the event, regardless of whether it is a residential event or not. Both concepts are to be interpreted in the way they are generally perceived.
Payment of wage or salary compensation concerns only employees with an employment relationship, because according to § Section 77(3) of the Labour Code does not belong to employees carrying out work on the basis of agreements on work outside the employment relationship in the event of obstruction of work due to other acts of general interest, compensation from the remuneration.
According to the provisions of § 104(2)(b) of Act No. 234/2014 Coll., on civil service, as amended, the civil servant shall be entitled to a salary for the period of the obstruction in service, as regards an obstacle governed by the provision
§ Sections 203(2) and 203a of the Labour Code and is paid under this labour law.
Under what conditions is time off work related to a children and youth event considered a hindrance with pay or salary compensation?
If an employee takes leave from his/her employer in connection with an event for children and young people under
§ Section 203a of the Labour Code, he is entitled to compensation for wages or salary only if he it is an event organised by a legal entity,
- which has been registered in the public register of legal and natural persons for at least 5 years; and
- work with children and youth is its main activity.
The employee must prove the above to his employer.
In the event that is the organizer camp or sports camp natural person, Attributed to Staff leave of absencebut is not entitled to compensation for wages or salary, even though that natural person may be registered in the public register.
Rules on the granting of leave of absence related to events for children and young people:
- Time off work related to events for children and young people with pay may only be granted to employees, who have with your employer employment relationship.
- Employee at least 1 year Directly before release on sick leave on a regular basis and worked with children or young people free of charge. For the purposes of this provision, children and young persons shall be deemed to be natural persons under 21 years of age. Continuous activity for these purposes means activity which is not occasional or one-off.
- Action for children and young people for which the staff member is released, must be organised by a legal entity, which is registered in the public register and its main activity is working with children and young people.
Extent of leave to work
The staff member shall be entitled to time off work for the activity:
- leaders of camps for children and youth
- representatives for economic and health affairs
- troop leaders
- educators
- instructors
- middle health workers in camps for children and youth.
Time off work related to events for children and young people the staff member may draw to the extent strictly necessary to carry out the activities listed above, however, for a maximum of 3 weeks per calendar year. The condition is that the granting of this leave is not prevented by serious operational reasons of the employer. The employee shall only be entitled to compensation for one week of such leave which is within the employee's weekly working time or shorter weekly working time.
Reimbursement of wages or salary for leave of absence related to an event for children and young people
Entitlement to compensation wages or salary the employee is only entitled to one week's leave related to an event for children and young people in the calendar year. For the purposes of this provision, this shall be the weekly working time, or shorter weekly working time as the case may be, of the released employee for which he is entitled to compensation for wages or salary.
It is newly designed the method of setting the so-called annual limit for the provision of wage or salary compensation, i.e. the period of time for which an employee may be entitled to wage or salary compensation in a calendar year. Compensation shall be payable for the number of hours of leave corresponding to the length of the employee's fixed or shorter weekly working time and shall be paid from the start of the first use of leave in the calendar year. If the length of the fixed or shorter weekly working time changes during the calendar year, the number of hours remaining within the annual limit shall be expressed in the same proportion to the new length of the fixed or shorter weekly working time.
In determining the amount of wage or salary compensation, the compensation shall be at the rate of average hourly earnings, but not more than one hundred and forty-third of the average wage in the national economy per the calculated number of employees published by the Czech Statistical Office for the first to third calendar quarter of the calendar year preceding the calendar year in which the leave of absence with wage or salary compensation is granted. The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs shall announce the amount of the aforementioned proportion of the average wage by means of a communication published in the Collection of Laws, rounding up the amount to the nearest decimal place.
For the year 2024, the amount of one hundred and seventy-fourth of the average wage is CZK 243.90, i.e., with a fixed 40-hour weekly working time, the wage (salary) compensation in 2024 could amount to a maximum of CZK 9,756.
This Reimbursement wages or salary subject to levies, which means it is subject to health insurance, social security and tax.
The employer may pay wage or salary compensation using the higher average earnings, but the right to reimbursement of wage or salary compensation is limited to the amount provided by law.
Wage or salary reimbursement
Employer, which pays a wage or salary reimbursement to an employee who is released for a children and youth event, may apply for reimbursement of this wage or salary compensation from the relevant Social Security Administration. Reimbursement of wages or salary Czech Social Security Administration reimbursed by the state budget. The legal regulation of the procedure for "reimbursement" of wage or salary compensation under Section 203a of the Labour Code is regulated by Section 123k of Act No. 582/1991 Coll., on the Organisation and Implementation of Social Security.
TIP: For request for reimbursement the employer will use formwhich is published on the ČSSZ website under via this link. The form is called "Application for reimbursement of wage (salary) compensation provided during a leave of absence related to an event for children and young people pursuant to Act No. 582/1991 Coll.", which is also part of the programme AVENSIO SW and it is possible to generate this form directly from the program.
Completed Formby which the employer requests payment of wage or salary compensation pursuant to Section 203a of the Labour Code must contain the following:
- identification and contact employer's data
- total the amount of the reimbursement requested wages or salary for all employees to whom the employer has provided such wage or salary compensation
- Identification employee data, for whom the employer claims payment of wages or salary. This information means the name and surname, birth number or date of birth if no birth number is assigned
- amount of wage or salary compensation for each employee to whom the employer has provided such wage or salary compensation
- calendar daysfor which the employee has been compensated for the wages or salary for which the employer is claiming reimbursement
- employer's account numberto which the payment of the salary compensation is to be paid.
Together with the submission of the prescribed form the employer is obliged to prove and document to the Social Security Administration that the relevant facts and conditions set out in the Labour Code are meton the basis of which the employee's wages or salary were compensated. Should the employer fail to comply with such an obligation, the Social Security Institution shall invite the employer to do so, and if the employer fails to comply with the invitation within 8 days, unless a longer period has been set, the Social Security Institution shall disregard the employer's request and shall not deal with it further.
It is important to submit a request for payment of wage compensation no later than 6 calendar months after the end of the calendar month in which the wage or salary compensation was charged. If the employer fails to send the request on time, the entitlement to payment of the wage or salary compensation will lapse.
If the employer has not met the conditions for the payment of wage or salary compensation and has already been reimbursed, is Employer obliged to return the territorial social security administration payment or part thereofthat he wrongfully accepted.
For the purposes of Act No. 582/1991 Coll., on the Organisation and Implementation of Social Security, the compensation of wages or salary is an overpayment of insurance premiums pursuant to Act No. 589/1992 Coll., on Social Security Insurance and Contribution to State Employment Policy. If the employer requests reimbursement of the wage or salary replacement, this request shall be deemed to be a request for reimbursement of the overpayment of insurance premiums. The procedure for reimbursement of such wage or salary compensation shall be the same as for reimbursement of an overpayment of insurance premiums, unless otherwise specified.
In the event that the employer requesting the payment of wages or salary has another payable obligation to the Social Security Institution or the Czech Social Security Administration and the amount representing the amount of the payment to which the employer is entitled has been used in whole or in part for its payment, the employer will also be informed of this fact.
