Employment Law in the Social Services Sector

Major Legislative Changes for 2025: What Every Social Service Provider Needs to Know?

The most significant change is the new Act on the Social-Health Interface, which took effect on January 1, 2025. Its main goal is to ensure the coordinated provision of social and health care. In practice, this means your employees may be subject to the methodological guidance or quality standards of two different systems—social and health—while performing their duties.

This shared care creates a new, legally ambiguous area of liability. If a mistake occurs, who is responsible? The social service provider or the healthcare facility? This ambiguity requires an immediate legal analysis and a review of existing employment contracts and internal policies.

Our Prague-based lawyers can help you prepare documentation that will protect your organization from fines and disputes arising from this new shared liability. For a legal consultation, write to us at consultation@arws.cz.

In addition, the so-called "flexi-amendment" to the Labour Code comes into force, introducing changes relevant to every manager. Key changes include the option to extend the probationary period to up to 4 months for regular employees and up to 8 months for managers. The rules for parents on maternity and parental leave are also changing, and the conditions for Agreements to Complete a Job (DPP) and Agreements to Perform Work (DPČ) are becoming stricter.

Although the amendment also introduces the option of so-called self-scheduling of working hours, providers must be cautious. This flexibility is in direct conflict with the reality of continuous operations, where a fixed shift schedule is essential to ensure care.

The third pillar of the changes is the new Act on Social Workers, which further specifies the requirements for this profession. This clearly separates it from the general regulation in the Act on Social Services and places an even greater emphasis on professional competence.

New Remuneration Rules: How to Correctly Set Salaries and Wages?

Remuneration is traditionally under the scrutiny of inspection authorities, and 2025 brings several fundamental changes that can lead to errors.

From January 1, 2025, the minimum wage will increase to CZK 20,800. This will primarily affect private providers and workers on agreements. In the public sector, there will be an across-the-board increase in salary tariffs by CZK 1,400.

Providers must carefully distinguish whether they pay their employees a salary (plat) or a wage (mzda).

• Public Sector (Salary): Contributory organizations, municipalities, regions. Remuneration is governed by strict salary tables and grades. An error in classification is easily detectable here.

• Private Sector (Wage): Non-profit organizations, church charities, private institutes. A major change is occurring here. The new amendment to the Labour Code abolishes the concept of guaranteed wages in the business sphere.

For private providers, this means they are now only bound by the minimum wage. While this reduces administration, it dramatically increases competitive pressure on the labour market. Your employees will compare their wages with the guaranteed tariffs in the public sector.

Without a robust internal wage regulation, you will not be able to attract and retain quality staff. The lawyers at ARROWS specialize in drafting internal remuneration policies that are competitive, motivational, and legally sound. Get a proposal at consultation@arws.cz.

Another new feature is a new special allowance. From 2025, employees providing direct personal care in the client's natural environment, typically as part of personal assistance or home care services, are entitled to it.

For you as an employer, this means you have an obligation to precisely define which employees are eligible for the allowance and under what conditions. An incorrect definition can lead to disputes with employees or sanctions from the labour inspectorate.

Errors in Remuneration and Their Consequences

Incorrectly set remuneration is one of the most common reasons for fines. The following table shows common risks and how we at ARROWS can help you with them.

Continuous Operation and Shift Planning: Where Do Managers Most Often Make Mistakes?

Social services are a typical example of continuous operation. This places extreme demands on shift planning and adherence to statutory breaks. This is where the greatest financial risk for providers lies.

By law, you must have a written shift schedule and inform employees of it in a timely manner. In continuous operation, the Labour Code does allow for shortening the uninterrupted daily rest or adjusting the uninterrupted weekly rest, but always under strictly defined conditions and with the obligation of subsequent compensation.

The State Labour Inspection Office (SÚIP) repeatedly cites errors in working time records as one of the most frequent violations of the law. You are obliged to keep records of hours worked, overtime, night work, and on-call duty.

The most expensive mistake providers make is confusing types of on-call duty.

1. On-call duty OFF the premises: The employee is at home "on the phone." For this waiting time, they are entitled to remuneration of at least 10% of their average earnings.

2. On-call duty ON the premises: The employee is present at the facility (e.g., "sleeping" in a staff room overnight to be available). The Labour Code explicitly defines this as working time, which must be paid as full work performance (100% of the wage/salary plus any allowances for night, weekend, etc.).

Many providers still mistakenly pay employees only a 10% on-call rate for their overnight presence at the facility. This is a massive violation of the law that can lead to huge back payments of wages for up to 3 years and fines in the millions. A poorly set up system of shifts and on-call duties is a ticking time bomb.

Employing Foreigners and Posting Workers: Certainty in a Complex Process

Social services face a chronic shortage of qualified personnel. The solution is often to employ workers from abroad. However, this process is extremely administratively demanding.

When employing foreigners from third countries, it is necessary to deal with employee cards, blue cards, or employment permits. A specific feature of social services is that it is a regulated profession. Therefore, a residence permit is not enough. The foreigner must also meet the professional competence requirements, which often involves a complex process of recognition of foreign education (nostrification).

Here lies another risk during an SÚIP inspection. The inspectorate not only checks whether the foreigner has a valid residence permit but also whether their qualifications meet the requirements for the regulated profession. If you employ a foreigner with a valid permit but in a position for which they do not have recognized qualifications, it is considered illegal work. This carries a fine of up to CZK 10,000,000.

Our lawyers at ARROWS specialize in this area and handle cases with an international element on a daily basis. Thanks to the ARROWS International network, built over ten years, we have direct contacts and experience with processes in candidates' home countries.

We will handle the entire process of obtaining the necessary permits and licenses for you, including representation in the nostrification procedure. We also provide comprehensive solutions for posting workers within the EU, for example, if you provide services in Germany or Austria, including securing A1 forms and meeting all reporting obligations.

Do you need legal assistance with employing foreigners or posting workers? Contact us at consultation@arws.cz.

SÚIP Inspections and the Most Common Errors in Practice

The Labour Inspectorate (SÚIP) conducted thousands of inspections in the first half of 2025 alone and imposed fines totaling over 255 million crowns. It focuses on the same recurring errors.

From Client Complaints to Inspection Preparation: ARROWS is Your Partner

Successfully managing a social service is not just about putting out fires, but about preventing them. Labour law is closely linked to the Quality Standards for Social Services. An example is the obligation to have a system for handling complaints.

You must keep records of them, investigate them properly, and in the case of a justified complaint against an employee, archive it in their personal file. All this must be done in compliance with the strict rules of GDPR. We will prepare a comprehensive set of internal policies for you, covering everything from health and safety in the field to complaint handling procedures and rules for reviewing internal processes.

We rely on our experience from long-term services for our clients. The ARROWS portfolio includes more than 150 joint-stock companies and 250 limited liability companies. This experience allows us to deliver legal services with exceptional speed and top quality. Moreover, we actively seek synergies for our clients. We can connect you if you have interesting business or investment opportunities, and we are happy to listen to your business idea as well.

Don't wait for the labour inspectorate to knock on your door. For comprehensive legal protection of your facility, turn to our specialists. Do not hesitate to contact our office – consultation@arws.cz.

Don't want to solve this problem alone? More than 2,000 clients trust the ARROWS law firm, and we have been awarded Law Firm of the Year 2024. See our references HERE and it will be our honour to help you solve your problem. The inquiry is free of charge.