Agency Employment of Foreigners

Labour agencies may employ natural persons as full-time employees or, if they have a permit from the Labour Office of the Czech Republic - Directorate General, to mediate their employees in the form of temporary assignments to work with another legal or natural person (the so-called user).

Effective from 29/07/2017, the ban on the temporary assignment of labour agencies to the user for foreigners with work permits was removed. Nowadays, all foreigners can be employed by agencies for temporary assignments to work by the user, i.e.:

  • EU citizens and their family members,
  • foreigners who have free access to the labour market,
  • holders of work permits (and residence permits), employee cards, blue cards or internally transferred employees card,

BUT ONLY for such types of work as specified by the relevant Government Regulation.

Since 29/07/2017, the Employment Act also specifies undisclosed employment intermediation as the activity of a legal person or a natural person consisting in the hiring of the labour force of another legal or natural person without meeting the conditions for employment intermediation pursuant to Section 14 (1)(b). Undisclosed employment intermediation is fined up to CZK 10,000,000.

Agency Employment of Foreigners with Work Permits (a work permit, an employee card, a blue card or an internally transferred employee card)

A labour agency that intends to employ a foreigner who needs an employee card, a blue card, an internally transferred employee card or a work permit (together with a valid residence permit) is an employer, and as an employer in the form of a temporary assignment to perform work at the user, it must report the job vacancy of the respective Regional Office of the Labour Office of the Czech Republic and also submit the contract by the user to whom the foreigner will be temporarily assigned. This contract will include:

  • the type of work to be performed by the member of the temporary staff, including the requirements for professional or medical fitness necessary for this type of work,
  • the length of time for which a member of temporary staff will be assigned to work for the user,
  • the place of work,
  • the day on which a member of the temporary staff is assigned to work for the user,
  • information on the employment and wage or salary conditions of an employee of a user who performs or would perform the same job as a member of the temporary staff, taking into account the qualifications and length of professional experience.

An employment contract, an agreement to perform work, or a preliminary contract (in which the parties undertake to conclude a contract of employment or an agreement to perform work) which the employer (i.e. a labour agency) concludes with their temporary staff member and which they will submit for the purposes requests for a work permit will contain a special arrangement in which the employee agrees to a temporary assignment.

In the case of a temporary transfer to another user, the employer and the user shall enter into a written temporary assignment agreement, which shall contain the requirements stipulated by the Labour Code, i.e.:

  • (a) the name, if any, the surname, the maiden name, if any, the nationality, the date and place of birth and the place of residence of the seconded employee,
  • (b) the type of work to be performed by the member of temporary staff, including the requirements for professional or medical fitness necessary for this type of work,
  • (c) the length of time for which a member of temporary staff will be assigned to work for the user,
  • (d) the place of work,
  • (e) the day on which a member of the temporary staff is assigned to work for the user,
  • (f) information on the employment and wage or salary conditions of an employee of a user who performs or would perform the same job as a member of the temporary staff, taking into account the qualifications and length of professional experience (hereinafter "a comparable employee"),
  • (g) the conditions under which temporary assignment by an employee or user may be terminated before the expiry of the period for which it was agreed; however, it is not possible to negotiate the conditions for termination of the temporary assignment before the expiry of the period for which it was negotiated solely for the benefit of the user,
  • (h) the number and date of the decision giving the employment agency a permit to mediate employment.

When assigned to a user, the employer issues their staff with a written instruction to temporarily perform the work with the user, which includes in particular:

  • (a) the name and address of the user’s residence,
  • (b) the place of work at the user,
  • (c) the duration of the secondment,
  • (d) the designation of a senior employee of a user authorised to assign and control the work of the employee,
  • (e) the conditions of a unilateral declaration of termination of service prior to the expiry of the temporary assignment, if agreed in an agreement on the temporary assignment of an employee of the employment agency [Section 308 (1) (g)],
  • (f) information on the wage and salary or salary conditions of a comparable employee of the user.

At the same time it is necessary to fulfil other requirements for agency employment stipulated by the Labour Code, e.g.:

  • the agency and the user are required to ensure that a staff member of the employment agency is not temporarily assigned to work with a user who:
    • is simultaneously employed in a basic labour relationship, or
    • held or is working in the same calendar month on a temporary assignment by another employment agency;
  • the employment agency and the user shall ensure that the work and wage conditions of a temporarily allocated employee would not be worse than the conditions that a comparable employee has or would have. Should the working or wage conditions of a temporarily allocated employee be worse for the period of the performance of work for the user, the employment agency upon the request of a temporarily allocated employee or even without request, if this fact is ascertained otherwise, shall ensure equal treatment; a temporarily allocated employee has the right to demand from the agency the satisfaction of the rights which have arisen to them hereby.

For more information on agency employment, see the Employment Agencies.