In brief
The Czech government has implemented obligatory testing of employees. Please find the details below.
Employers employing more than 250 employees
Employers employing more than 250 employees have the obligation to ensure, by 3 March 2021 at the latest, provision of antigen COVID-19 tests performed by a provider of medical services, or tests suitable for self-testing to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen. Employers must ensure that such tests are provided on a weekly basis, and each employer must ask its employees to take such tests at the latest from 5 March 2021.
As of 12 March 2021, the employer cannot allow the presence at the workplace of an employee who has not undertaken COVID-19 test with a negative result in the last 7 calendar days, whether an RT-PCR test or an antigen test or a preventive test to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen provided by the employer (save for limited exceptions, as stated below).
If the employee performs work exclusively outside the employer’s workplace within a seven-day period, the employer will allow him to take a preventive test outside the employer’s workplace.
Employers employing 50 to 249 employees
Employers employing between 50 to 249 employees have the obligation to ensure, by 5 March 2021 at the latest, provision of antigen COVID-19 tests performed by a provider of medical services, or tests suitable for self-testing to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen. Employers must ensure that such tests are provided on a weekly basis, and each employer must ask its employees to take such tests at the latest from 8 March 2021.
As of 15 March 2021, the employer cannot allow the presence at the workplace of an employee who has not undertaken a PCR or antigen COVID-19 test with a negative result in the last 7 calendar days, whether an RT-PCR test or an antigen test or a preventive test to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus antigen provided by the employer (save for limited exceptions, as stated below).
If the employee performs work exclusively outside the employer’s workplace within a seven-day period, the employer will allow him to take a preventive test outside the employer’s workplace.
Exceptions from the above rules
The following employees are exempt from the obligation to undertake a COVID-19 test:
- employees working from home;
- individuals who have contracted COVID-19 in the past (confirmed by a laboratory result), are no longer in isolation, do not have any COVID-19 symptoms, and their first positive PCR or antigen test is not older than 90 days.
Obligations of employees
Employees are obliged to undergo the COVID-19 test based on the request of their employer. In case an employee refuses, it can be considered as a breach of obligations arising from legal obligations related to the performance of work, and the employer may take disciplinary measures (in our view, a written warning letter under Section 52 (g) of the Labor Code would be an adequate disciplinary measure).
In case the employee tests positive with the antigen COVID-19 test provided by the employer, the employee must without any delay notify the employer, leave the workplace and return to his/her residence, and notify the provider of occupational health services (if such obligation was imposed by the employer) or his/her general health practitioner, or the hygiene authority. Such employee would be sent for a PCR COVID-19 test to determine the presence of SARS-CoV-2 virus to confirm the result of the antigen test.
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